asked the Paymaster General how many people are employed in manufacturing industry; and what was the comparable figure seven years ago.

In December 1986 (the latest date for which figures are available), there were 5,363,000 employees in employment and self employed people in the manufacturing industries in Great Britain. In December 1979 the figure was 7,206,000.Some of the decrease in the figures will be the result of the re-classification of jobs such as industrial cleaning, catering, computer services and road haulage, previously done by manufacturers' own employees and now done by subcontractors. This developing feature of our economy has the effect of exaggerating the extent of the move from manufacturing to service sector employment.