To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of United Kingdom gross domestic product was represented by manufacturing in 1990 and in 2009. [HL1071]

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Stephen Penneck, Director-General for Office for National Statistics, to Lord Jones, dated January 2010.

As Director-General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what proportion of United Kingdom Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was represented by manufacturing in 1990 and 2009. (HL1071)

When assessing industry percentages to total production it is more appropriate to assess against total gross value added (GVA) as opposed to GDP. This is because GDP equals GVA plus unallocated taxes and subsidies such as VAT which are not able to be allocated to industry production.

In current (nominal) price terms for the calendar year 1990 total manufacturing is estimated to have made up 22.5 per cent of total GVA. For 2008 (the latest complete year currently published), total manufacturing is estimated to have made up 12.3 per cent of total GVA.