§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will explain the reasons for reclassifying electronics industry employment for the years 1984 and 1985.
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§ Mr. LangUnder the standard industrial classification industrial and commercial establishments are classified to an industry according to their principal or main product, and when this changes the reclassification of that establishment results in a change in the industry's employment. If the reclassified establishment produces more than one product the change in employment resulting from reclassification can be greater than the underlying change in employment related specifically to the product. In the IDS estimates, published in IDS "Statistical Bulletin No. C.2/", one major establishment in Scotland was reclassified to another industry because of changes in its product structure between 1984 and 1985.
§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish the estimates of electronics employment provided by the Engineering Industry Training Board in 1979 and the most recent dates for which figures are available.
§ Mr. LangThe Engineering Industry Training Board estimates that there were 38,350 people employed in the electronics industry in Scotland in 1979 and 39,700 (provisional estimate) in 1985. The EITB defines electronics to comprise activity headings 3301, 3302, 3441, 3442, 3443, 3444, 3452, 3453 and 3454.
The EITB definition is based on different activity headings from those included in the IDS definition, partly reflecting differences in the activities of establishments in these activity headings in Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole. If this difference in definition is removed, the difference in estimates of employment from the respective sources in 1985 are relatively minor.