§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will publish in the Official. Report a table showing how many foreign-owned plants in England have closed down since 1978, how many jobs have been lost since 1978 in the plants in question and in which industries.
§ Mr. TrippierThe latest information available to the Department concerning factory closures indicates that 560 foreign-owned manufacturing plants in England with more than 10 employees have closed since 1978 involving 103,000 jobs. The main industries affected have been mechanical engineering (22 per cent. of the jobs involved), electrical engineering (17 per cent.) and vehicles (13 per cent). The definition of foreign ownership adopted is that at least 51 per cent. of the equity of the UK firm is owned by an overseas company.