HC Deb 20 June 1989 vol 155 cc124-5W
70. Mr. David Evans

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what estimate he has as to the number of employees working in pre-entry closed shops; and what proportion this constitutes of the total number of employees currently working in closed shops.

Mr. Nicholls

Our Green Paper "Removing Barriers to Employment", which was published on 20 March, estimates the total number of people covered by all types of pre-entry closed shop arrangements in Great Britain as being of the order of 1.3 million. This constitutes half the total of around 2.6 million people estimated to be covered by all forms of closed shop arrangements. These estimates are derived from a specially commissioned survey carried out between 22 February and 6 March 1989, a summary of which has been placed in the Library.