HC Deb 03 May 1989 vol 152 cc165-6W
26. Mr. Strang

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what estimate he has made of the total number of jobs directly and indirectly dependent on Scotland's coal industry; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Lang

British Coal has some 3,400 employees in Scotland at present. In addition, approximately 1,200 people are employed on opencast and deep mining by subcontractors, and there around 300 people working in licensed private mining. Figures on the number of indirectly dependent jobs are not available.