asked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will give by standard economic planning region the number of companies employing under 100 and under 500, respectively, showing the total number employed by each group in each region and indicating where possible how many of these companies are privately owned.
The only information available in my Department on this subject relates to local manufacturing units—rather than companies—recorded in the register of businesses maintained by the Business Statistics Office (BSO). The latest date for which a size breakdown by region is available is 1972.Because the BSO's register of businesses is not wholly reliable for units employing 1–10 persons, no regional breakdown has been attempted. It is estimated, however, that in 1972 there were about 50,000 units employing in total about 250,000 in this size range in manufacturing industry. The detailed regional data for the size bands 11–99 employees and 100–499 employees are given in the accompanying table.The employment figures are, in the main, taken from Census of Production returns and are the average numbers employed in the units over a period of 12 months as reported in the census. Additional employment information is obtained from the Annual Census of Employment.
| MANUFACTURING UNITS BY EMPLOYMENT SIZE BY COUNTRY AND STANDARD REGION 1972 | ||||||||
| summary table for units employing 1–499 | ||||||||
| Employment Size Group | ||||||||
| Country/Region (as at 1972) | 0–10 | 11–99 | 100–499 | |||||
| North: | ||||||||
| Number of Units | … | … | … | … | · · | 1,692 | 550 | |
| Employment | … | … | … | … | … | · · | 55,651 | 128,154 |
| Yorkshire and Humberside: | ||||||||
| Number of Units | … | … | … | … | · · | 4,462 | 1,285 | |
| Employment | … | … | … | … | … | · · | 147,721 | 271,688 |
| East Midlands: | ||||||||
| Number of Units | … | … | … | … | · · | 3,447 | 981 | |
| Employment | … | … | … | … | … | · · | 116,209 | 204,554 |
| East Anglia: | ||||||||
| Number of Units | … | … | … | … | · · | 1,256 | 281 | |
| Employment | … | … | … | … | … | · · | 41,996 | 61,807 |
| South East: | ||||||||
| Number of Units | … | … | … | … | · · | 15,566 | 2,767 | |
| Employment | … | … | … | … | … | · · | 467,119 | 574,930 |
| South West | ||||||||
| Number of Units | … | … | … | … | · · | 2,363 | 569 | |
| Employment | … | … | … | … | … | · · | 76,317 | 120,651 |
| West Midlands: | ||||||||
| Number of Units | … | … | … | … | · · | 5,476 | 1,402 | |
| Employment | … | … | … | … | … | · · | 180,167 | 299,492 |
| North West: | ||||||||
| Number of Units | … | … | … | … | · · | 5,767 | 1,608 | |
| Employment | … | … | … | … | … | · · | 192,750 | 350,679 |
| Wales: | ||||||||
| Number of Units | … | … | … | … | · · | 1,367 | 462 | |
| Employment | … | … | … | … | … | · · | 45,747 | 99,804 |
| Scotland | ||||||||
| Number of Units | … | … | … | … | · · | 3,800 | 928 | |
| Employment | … | … | … | … | … | · · | 123,840 | 197,755 |
| Northern Ireland: | ||||||||
| Number of Units | … | … | … | … | · · | 746 | 307 | |
| Employment | … | … | … | … | … | · · | 27,918 | 67,386 |
| Total number of Units | … | … | … | 50,000* | 45,942 | 11,140 | ||
| Total Employment | … | … | … | … | 250,000* | 1,475,435 | 2,376,900 | |
| · · Not available. | ||||||||
| * Estimate. | ||||||||