§ 5. Mr. Stevensasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many persons are employed in small firms in inner London; how many people were employed in May 1979; and to what factors he attributes the decline in numbers.
§ Mr. TebbitThe information requested is not available. However, the number of people employed by34W small firms in the United Kingdom is of the order of 6 million, or about 1 quarter of the total labour force. As my hon. Friend may know, recent research suggests that in general small firms make an important contribution to the generation of new and replacement jobs and to economic activity in general.