§ Sir Anthony Meyerasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will estimate the total numbers employed by (a) United States and (b) Japanese companies in the United Kingdom, together with the proportion of United States industrial investment in the European Community, both including and excluding oil, which came to the United Kingdom in 1981 and 1982.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe information available on employment in the United Kingdom by United States and Japanese companies relates to manufacturing industry. The latest figures, for 1979, are published inBusiness Monitor PA 1002, report on the census of production 1979, summary tables, a copy of which is in the Library. Industrial investment overseas is recorded as overseas direct investment. However direct investment includes loans to companies from affiliated companies overseas. In 1981 United States companies were large net borrowers from United Kingdom subsidiaries and as a result United States direct investment in the United Kingdom excluding oil is estimated by the United States Department of Commerce to be minus $61 million excluding oil compared with an annual direct investment of $873 million in the European Community. The corresponding figures including oil were $1,478 million for the United Kingdom and $2,622 million for the European Community. However, United Kingdom subsidiaries lent their United States parent companies at least $1 billion in 1981. Excluding these loans the United Kingdom received over half of United States direct investment in the European Community in 1981 including oil and at least one-third excluding oil. Statistics for 1982 are not available.