§ 41. Mr. Parkasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will update the answer of 2 May, Official Report, column 178, concerning the number of United Kingdom plants that have been closed down since the beginning of 1979; and if he will indicate the number of jobs that have been lost since 1979 in the plants in question.
§ Mr. TrippierThe latest information available to my Department concerning factory closures indicates that three additional foreign-owned manufacturing plants in the United Kingdom with more than 10 employees have closed since the reply given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Industry on 2 May. The definition of foreign ownership used is that at least 51 per cent. of the equity of the United Kingdom firm is owned by an overseas company.
Since the beginning of 1979, a total of 106,510 jobs have been lost in the closure of all foreign-owned manufacturing plants which employed more than 10 people.