§ Mr. Strangasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many farm workers there were in Scotland in each of the last three years; and how many of them were dairymen.
§ Mr. YoungerThe numbers of workers on all farms recorded at the last three June agricultural censuses were as follows:
1978 1979 1980 41,505 41,195 40,602 It is not known how many of these were dairymen, but the number of full-time adult male dairy workers classified as specialists in terms of minimum wages legislation is estimated to have been of the order of 1,600 in recent years.
The total numbers of workers on dairy farms at the June censuses have fallen as follows: reflecting a reduction in the number of dairy farms as the average size of dairy herd has increased:
1978 1979 1980 8,457 8,038 7,494