asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the total number of people employed in national and local government service, including the nationalised industries and businesses wholly owned by Her Majesty's Government or public corporations.

The latest information is shown in the following table:

UNITED KINGDOM
Employment in central government, local authorities and public corporations, mid-1977
Thousands
Central Government (including HM Forces)	2,305
Local authorities	2,999
Public corporations (including nationlised industries)	2,089
Total	7,393

NOTE: The sectors are those used in the national accounts; in particular, central Government includes the National Health Service and local authorities include the education services. Full definitions are given in "National Accounts Statistics: Sources and Methods", and brought up to date by the notes in "National Income and Expenditure 1967–1977", the Blue Book. Companies which are subsidiaries of other public co-operation are classified as public corporations and, their employees are included in the above figures. Most companies which are wholly—or partly—owned directly by the Government, and companies which are subsidiaries of the National Enterprise Board, are classified to the companies sector which forms part of the private sector. Separate employment figures for those companies are not available.