§ Mr. Fallonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will estimate the number of individual share owners in the northern region at present and in 1979.
§ Mr. Norman LamontThe joint Treasury and stock exchange survey estimated that 16 per cent. of the adult population in the northern region owned shares at the beginning of 1987. I regret that comparable figures are not available for 1979, though the number of adults owning shares has trebled over the United Kingdom as a whole since 1979.