§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer of 23 February,Official Report, column 229, to what extent his Department monitors the effect of changes in terms of trade for finished manufactures on production and trade of industries other than the motor industry; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. SainsburyThe Department has not conducted a study to isolate the effect of changes in the terms of trade for finished manufactures on industries other than the motor industry.
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will publish a table showing for 1964, 1973, 1979, 1989 and the latest available date the number of manufacturing plants, their distribution by number of employees and the number of employees in each category; and what is his assessment of the factors which contributed to the changes over that period.
§ Mr. SainsburyData for 1964 are not available. The quinquenniel census of production for 1963 contained structure data in summary tables, table 4. For 1973 and 1979, figures were published in the summary tables of the "Annual Census of Production", table 6. For 1989 and 1991, the latest available year, figures were published in the summary volumes of the "Annual Census of Production", table 6. Copies of these publications are available in the Library of the House.
There were changes in the standard industrial classification, on which these figures are based, in 1968 and 1980, but in the main the figures reflect the industry's response to changes in the marketplace in the United Kingdom and overseas.