§ Mr. Sheermanasked the Paymaster General what is his estimate of the average annual rate of growth of employment in firms registered under the Industrial Common Ownership Act 1976 during the period November 1976 to 31 March 1986.
§ Mr. TrippierThe certification of co-operative and common ownership enterprises under the Industrial Common Ownership Act 1976 ceased on 21 November 1981 when the financial provisions of the Act expired. Certification was for the purpose of identifying potential 485W recipients of loans under the Act. No information is available on growth of employment in those enterprises certified under the Act between 1976 and 1981.
§ Mr. Sheermanasked the Paymaster General if he will provide an estimate of the number of people who are currently employed in worker co-operatives in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. TrippierIt is estimated that there are around 12,000 people currently employed in worker co-operatives in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Sheermanasked the Paymaster General what is his estimate of the number of jobs that have been created in worker co-operatives in the United Kingdom since the passing of the Industrial Common Ownership Act 1976.
§ Mr. TrippierI regret that there is no sufficient data available on worker co-operatives to make an assessment of job creation over the period in question. However, in 1980 there were 305 worker co-operatives employing 5,342 people compared to around 1,400 co-operatives employing about 12,000 people currently.
§ Mr. Sheermanasked the Paymaster General what information he has as to the survival rate of (a) new start worker co-operatives and (b) traditional forms of small business new starts.
§ Mr. Trippier(a) No information is available on new start worker co-operatives, but the Co-operative Development Agency estimates that in any one year 90 per cent. of the total stock of worker co-operatives will survive.
(b) A rough measure of the survival rate of conventional small businesses is that after 10 years well over one half of all businesses can be expected to be in operation. Full details of the lifespan of businesses were published in British Business on 12 August 1983. A copy of the article was placed in the Library.