To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many former civil servants from his Department joined General Electric Company, Plessey, Northern Engineering Industries, BICC, or Trafalgar after leaving the civil service since May 1979.

[holding answer 24 October 1990]: The Department of Trade and Industry has existed in its present form only since 1983. Separate Departments of Trade and Industry existed between 1979 and 1983. Totals for DTI, and these predecessor Departments since 1979 are as follows:

	Total
To General Electric	5
To Plessey	0
To Northern Engineering Industries	2
To BICC	0
To Trafalgar House	0

Such figures would not, of course, include any staff who, once having left the Department and having passed the two-year notification period, then joined one of these companies.