asked the Secretary of State for Industry how many businesses employ under 200 employees in (a) the United Kingdom, (b) France, (c) Germany, (d) the United States of America and (e) Japan.

The currently available information relating to manufacturing enterprises in the United Kingdom is that in 1979 nearly 87,000 enterprises in the private sector employed fewer than 200 employees. Further details are available from tables 12 and 13 of Business Monitor PA 1002. Information is not available for subsequent years or for non-manufacturing enterprises nor in the form requested for the other countries listed, but we are working on this aspect.