asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many persons have a gross earned income of £60,000 or more per annum in the United Kingdom; and what information he has about the numbers in other countries in the European Economic Community.

Information on gross earned income for the United Kingdom is compiled in terms of tax units (married couples counted as one unit) and after contributions to occupational pension schemes have been deducted. In 1984–85, the latest year for which information from the survey of personal incomes is available, 35,000 tax units had gross earned income of £60,000 or more. The corresponding numbers for other EC countries are not available.