§ Mr. Stuart Hollandasked the Secretary of State for Industry (1) what number of the larger firms in 1978 represented half of manufacturing output;
(2) what share of manufacturing output in 1978 was represented by the top 100 companies.
§ Mr. Michael MarshallInformation for 1978 is not available. The most recent information, available from the census of production, relates to 1975, when the largest 170 and 100 enterprises in the 73W private sector of manufacturing accounted for about 50 per cent. and 40 per cent. respectively of the total net output of manufacturing industry.
§ Mr. Stuart Hollandasked the Secretary of State for Industry what was the share of the top 100 manufacturing companies in 1948, 1958, 1968 and 1978 in (a) total manufacturing employment and (b) total manufacturing assets.
§ Mr. Michael Marshalla. Results of the censuses of production indicate that the 100 largest United Kingdom manufacturing enterprises in the private sector—in terms of net output—accounted for 31 per cent. of total employment in manufacturing industry in 1963 and 34 per cent. in 1968, 1970 and in 1975. Comparable information is not available for 1948, 1958 or 1978.
b. Analysis of company accounts indicates that the 100 largest Great Britain manufacturing companies in the private sector—in terms of capital employed—accounted for just over 60 per cent. of all manufacturing companies' estimated capital employed in 1975. Comparable information is not available for other years.