§ Mr. Lawsonasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish figures to show the proportion of the unionised and the total work forces, respectively, covered by closed shop agreements in 1965, 1970, 1974 and every subsequent year for which figures are available.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerDr. W. McCarthy's study "The Closed Shop in Britain" published in 1964 estimated that, at that time, about 3¾ million workers were covered by closed shop agreements. Reliable estimates for the subsequent years specified in the questionnaire are not available but, as my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State informed the right hon. Member for Farnham (Mr. Macmillan) in a written reply to a similar question, on 3 May 1978, my Department has commissioned research which is
194WEngland, respectively, for each month in which the small firms employment subsidy has operated.
§ Mr. GoldingThe information requested is as follows:
designed, in part, to provide up-to-date information about the present extent of closed shop agreements.