§ Mr. William RossTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many persons he estimates to have been employed in retailing in(a) Coleraine town, (b) Limavady town, (c) Magherafelt town, (d) Londonderry city and (e) Belfast city in each of the last 10 years; how many of those persons were (i) employees and (ii) owners or partners and (1) how many were part-time and (2) full-time employed.
§ Mr. Needham[holding answer 3 April 1990]: Figures on the number of jobs in retail distribution for the areas requested are readily available only from the census of employment. The information available from this source over the past decade is as follows:
Employees in employment—retail distribution Town Full-time Part-time Total 1981 Belfast 9,442 4,260 13,702 1984 Belfast 8,111 4,535 12,646 Coleraine 425 243 668 Limavady 135 68 203 Londonderry 1,380 683 2,063 Magherafelt 180 62 242 1987 Belfast 8,018 5,383 13,401 Coleraine 626 376 1,002 Limavady 204 218 422 Londonderry 1,378 947 2,325 Magherafelt 153 99 252 Notes:
- 1. The Coleraine, Limavady, Londonderry and Magherafelt towns have been approximated by electoral wards. The data for Belfast relates to the district council area.
- 2. The information requested is available for 1981 only for Belfast.
- 3. Part-time is defined as those working up to and including 30 hours per week.
- 4. The census of employment does not collect data on owners and partners and this is not readily available from other sources.