§ Mr. Fosterasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will give for the latest available date the changes in the numbers of factories with (a) under 5,000, (b) over 5,000 and up to 10,000, (c) over 10,000 and up to 25,000, (d) over 25,000 and up to 50,000, (e) over 50,000 and up to 100,000, and (f) over 100,000 square feet of workspace in (i) England and Wales, (ii) the Northern region, (iii) Durham county and (iv) the area covered by the Bishop Auckland constituency for each month for the past 12 months; in each case, how much space is unoccupied; and if he will give for the same areas and factory sizes, the number of factories that have become occupied and the amount of occupied new workspace this represents for each of the past 12 months;
(2) if he will give, for the latest available date, the amount of unoccupied factory space and warehousing, expressed in square feet, in (a) England and Wales, (b) the Northern region, (c) Durham County and (d) in the area covered by the Bishop Auckland parliamentary constituency; what were the totals for the same areas in May 1979; what was the percentage change between the latest available date and May 1979 in each case; how much of this total empty factory space and warehousing, expressed in square feet and as a percentage of the total, is owned by (i) the English Industrial Estates Corporation, (ii) new town development councils, (iii) county councils and (iv) local authorities in each of the above areas; and how this has changed since May 1979.
§ Mr. Giles ShawThe precise information requested is not available. Floor space statistics are published annually in the HMSO publication "Commercial and Industrial Floorspace Statistics", copies of which are in the Library. The next edition including figures for 1980 is due out shortly.