§ Mr. McMasterTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish a table showing the number of people employed in the textiles industry in(a) Scotland (b) Strathclyde and (c) Renfrew district in each year since 1973; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Stewart[holding answer 27 January 1993]: The information requested is given in the table.
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Textiles industry employment in Scotland, Strathclyde region and Renfrew district 1973–1990 Scotland Strathclyde Renfrew 1973 68,238 27,762 6,706 1974 65,261 26,983 6,573 1975 57,523 23,731 5,743 1976 55,041 22,842 5,463 1977 54,610 22,547 5,505 1978 51,672 20,918 4,981 1979 48,331 19,286 4,785 1980 43,708 16,612 4,262 1981 36,891 13,050 3,324 1982 31,758 10,544 2,700 1983 30,374 10,415 2,359 1984 30,743 10,367 2,036 1985 31,387 10,494 1,921 1986 31,782 10,695 2,034 1987 30,790 10,873 2,019 1988 29,088 9,794 1,862 1989 27,689 9,350 1,868 1990 25,652 8,854 1,640 Source: Scottish Register of Employment.
Note: The Scottish Register of Employment only holds information for manufacturing units with 11 or more employees.
As the table shows, textiles industry employment in Scotland declined considerably between 1973 and 1990. This decline was, however, accompanied by a significant improvement in labour productivity.
Over recent years the industry has faced particularly difficult trading conditions but levels of activity are likely to increase as the economy recovers.
The Scottish textiles industry has a fine export record and export orders increased between 1991 and 1992.