asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many companies have reported redundancies to him, and how many have closed down, in Fife since June 1979.

There are no comprehensive statistics on redundancies. The following information relates to the numbers of redundancies and closures affecting 10 or more workers notified to the Manpower Services Commission as due to occur in Fife during the period July 1979 to December 1986. During this period there were 411 reports of confirmed redundancies of which 125 related to closures.