§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what measures his Department takes to changes to the size of the defence industry; and how many job losses have been recorded by his Department since July 1990.
§ Mr. FreemanMy Department monitors public announcements of job losses by United Kingdom defence contractors. Since July 1990, when "Options for Change" was announced, some 65,500 job losses have been recorded in this way.
This figure includes those announcements of which my Department is aware either through the press or by direct notification from the company. It may not include job losses sustained by smaller companies, including sub-contractors and component suppliers, which have gone unreported. It may, however, include some announced job losses which in fact relate to the civil rather than the defence business of the company concerned. The figure is of announced job losses, not all of which may yet have been implemented. It does not include jobs created in the defence industry as a result of new orders.