§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Secretary of State for Scotland on what basis the statutory returns of the Engineering Training Board, and his own estimates, differ for the number of employees in electronics in Scotland.
§ Mr. Allan StewartThe Industry Department for Scotland (IDS) estimates of the number of employees in electronics in Scotland and estimates produced by the Engineering Industry Training Board (EITB) differ mainly because they are based on different groups of activity headings from the 1980 standard industrial classifications. IDS estimates represent employment in activity headings: 3302, 3433, 3441, 3442, 3443, 3444, 3453, 3454, 3710 and 3732. The EITB has defined electronics to comprise activity headings 3301, 3302. 3441, 3442, 3443, 3444, 3452, 3453 and 3454.
If this difference in definition is removed, the difference in estimates from the respective sources in 1983 are relatively minor. They are likely to reflect differences in (1) the times of the year to which the estimates refer; (2) the classification of units to activity headings; (3) reporting by companies.