asked the Secretary of State for Employment if the recent employment market research unit study on the clothing industry was conducted after receipt of a report on the retail trades by researchers at the department of applied economics, Cambridge.

No. The research outline for the employment market research unit study was drawn up during March 1983, work continued intermittently until April 1985—due to resource constraints—and the report was published in May 1985. A first draft of the department of applied economics, Cambridge report was received in November 1983 and the final version was published in May 1985.