asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many and what percentage of agricultural workers live in tied cottages; and how this compares with the situation in other Western European countries.

My information derives from my Department's wages and employment inquiry which takes in a statistical sample of about one-tenth of hired agricultural workers in England and Wales. In 1973 approximately 65,000—or a little over half the total—regular whole-time hired men occupied accommodation under their contracts of employment. I have no comparable information for other Western European countries.