To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what estimate his Department has made of the number of companies on short-time working; and how many employees are affected by such short-time working. [37514]

Available information is restricted to operatives—manual workers—in the manufacturing sector. In the week ending 9 June 1995, the latest date for which figures are available for Scotland, an estimated 1,300 operatives in manufacturing industries were affected by short-time working. Of these, 900 were stood off the whole week. The source of these figures is the Central Statistical Office.