To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many jobs have been lost in the engineering industry since June 1979; and how many of these jobs have been in the northern region of England.

There are no figures for job losses and Job gains. Between June 1979 and june 1987 there was a net decrease of 541,000 in the number of employees in employment in the mechanical, electrical and electronic, office machinery and data processing equipment, and instrument engineering industries in Great Britain. In the northern region, there was a corresponding net decrease of 41,000. The figures are unadjusted for the effects of seasonal variations.