Share Ownership 34. Mrs. Roe asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will make a statement on the current extent of direct share ownership by individuals. 40. Mr. Leigh asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will make a statement on the current extent of direct share ownership by individuals. 44. Mr. Gale asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will make a statement on the current extent of direct share ownership by individuals. 50. Mr. Wood asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will make a statement on the latest estimate of the scale of direct share ownership by individuals. Mr. Norman Lamont Our stategy of widening, shareownership through employee share schemes, privatisation, and now personal eqity plans, has reversed the previous trend away from direct shareownership by individuals, with the result that the number of individual shareowners may now have roughly trebled since 1979.