§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many people were employed in the steel industry in the United Kingdom and each English region in 1964, 1970, 1974, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982 and at the latest date for which figures are available.
§ Mr. Alison[pursuant to his reply, 21 April 1983, c. 145]: The following is the available information for the relevant minimum list headings—MLHs—of the 1968 standard industrial classification. Figures are given in table 1 for Great Britain, for iron and steel— general (MLH 311), steel tubes (MLH 312) and iron castings, etc. (MHL 313). Consistent regional estimates are not available prior to 1971, nor for 1979, 1980 and 1982. The available figures are given in table 2.
Region June 1971 June 1974 June 1978 September 1981† East Midlands MLH 311 3.9 6.4 4.0 3 MLH 312 16.1 16.0 14.9 7 MLH 313 21.9 15.5 14.4 13 Yorkshire and Humberside MLH 311 81.0 70.6 64.4 43 MLH 312 * * * 1 MLH 313 9.6 11.0 9.5 6 North West MLH 311 12.8 8.8 5.6 5 MLH 312 * * 0.7 1 MLH 313 5.4 3.7 3.1 2 North MLH 311 40.3 37.1 30.9 20 MLH 312 2.9 3.4 2.9 2 MLH 313 3.8 3.7 3.0 3 * Not available. Regional estimates for September 1981 are at present available only to the nearest thousand and are subject to sampling errors. † Latest available date.