§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what was(a) the total output and (b) the percentage of GNP of the United Kingdom environmental industry for each year since 1990–91; and if he will provide an estimate for the current financial year; [1163]
(2) what assessment he has made of the growth in the last five years of the United Kingdom environmental technology industry in terms of (a) output, (b) percentage of GNP and (c) employment; [1165]
(3) how many people in the United Kingdom are employed in the environmental technology industry; and how many people have been employed in that industry for each year since 1990. [1164]
§ Mr. Ian TaylorI have been asked to reply.
Information on the environmental technology and associated industries is very limited. Using a definition of the environmental products industries as producing
a product which enhances or prevents the deterioration of the external environmentinformation available suggests that the value added by the environmental products sector has increased strongly over the period from 1985 to 1991. In 1990 and 1991, there were approximately 110,000 people employed in the environmental products industries.The available information on this topic, which was derived by the Department's statisticians, has been published in "Statistical News; Summer 1995" and is available in the Library of the House. No further assessment has yet been made on the growth of this sector.