§ Mr. LeeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many employees of each of the recently privatised water companies became shareholders; and what percentages of the total work forces this represented.
§ Mr. Heathcoat-AmoryA total of 37,488 employees, representing 85.57 per cent. of the eligible work force of the 10 companies, have successfully applied for shares in the companies under free and matching offers.
The figures for each company are as follows:
249W
Employees Per cent. of workforce Anglian 3,723 82.97 North West 6,379 87.09 Northumbrian 1,298 89.46 Severn Trent 6,486 88.53 Southern 2,453 80.56 South West 1,496 82.15 Thames 6,778 83.17 Welsh 3,280 85.73 Wessex 1,495 85.38 Yorkshire 4,100 88.59 In addition, some of the small number of employees not eligible for the free and matching offers will have successfully applied for shares, but exact figures could not be provided without disproportionate cost.