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Company Ownership

Volume 282: debated on Monday 14 October 1996

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To ask the President of the Board of Trade what percentage of (a) manufacturing, (b) industrial production and (c) gross domestic product is produced by foreign-owned United Kingdom companies; and what are the equivalent figures for (a) other G7 countries and (b) other EU member states. [40247]

According to the annual census of production, 23 per cent. of UK manufacturing gross value added at factor cost was attributed to foreign-owned enterprises in 1992, the latest year for which data are available. Similar data are not available for industrial production or GDP for the UK. There are no similar international data for manufacturing, industrial production or GDP.

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will place in the Library a list of all United Kingdom-registered companies which are owned or majority-owned by foreign individuals or businesses; and if he will specify the type of industry of each company so controlled. [40246]

Disclosure of individual shareholder nationality is not a requirement of the Companies Act and therefore Companies House has no knowledge of the nationality of individual shareholders. If the company is a subsidiary, the directors are obliged to disclose its ultimate parent company, its name and country of incorporation. This information could only be obtained from Companies House at disproportionate cost.