HC Deb 10 November 1988 vol 140 c248W
Mr. Ralph Howell

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state the number of employees for each nationalised industry, the Civil Service, local government, the Post Office and all other separate concerns in the public sector for 1979, 1984 and 1988.

Mr. Major

The information is as follows:

Number of employees—mid year (000's)
1979 1984 1988
Nationalised industries:1
British Coal 294.9 246.8 116.8
British Railways 243.7 200.8 150.6
British Shipbuilders2 82.5 48.6 6.5
British Steel 184.2 70.0 53.2
British Waterways Board 3.2 3.2 2.9
Civil Aviation Authority 7.5 7.0 6.2
Electricity Council (England and Wales) 159.8 136.4 130.7
Girobank plc 4.0 5.9 6.6
London Regional Transport3 59.9 56.9 41.8
North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board 4.1 3.8 3.9
Post Office 177.9 182.3 207.3
Regional Water Authorities 64.2 55.6 48.8
Scottish Transport Group 13.4 10.5 10.3
South of Scotland Electricity Board 13.7 12.3 12.1
Other public corporations14 109 102 5103
Nationalised industries and other corporations privatised or abolished since 1979 638 462 —
Civil Service6 716 611 593
National Health Service 1,152 1,223 71,212
HM Forces 314 326 316
Other Central Government8 183 180 186
Local Government 2,997 2,942 93,099
1 Employees resident in United Kingdom only.
2 Including warship yards in 1979 and 1984. These yards were privatised in 1985–86.
3 Reclassified as a nationalised industry in 1984.
4 Trading funds (Royal Mint, HMSO and Crown Suppliers) are included in the Civil Service row.
5 Partly estimated.
6 Excluding Royal Ordnance factories.
7 At mid-year 1987 (latest available figure).
8 Including Northern Ireland Civil Service, Northern Ireland Court Service and the Overseas Civil Service.
9 Including, for consistency, employees in local authority airport and bus companies (18,300 in total) which are now classified as public corporations.

Sources of data:

Her Majesty's Treasury, Department of Employment, Department of Transport, DHSS, Joint Manpower Watch surveys and annual accounts and returns provided by nationalised industries and public corporations.

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