Ceramic and Brick Industries
This pack has been prepared ahead of the debate on ceramic and brick industries to take place in Westminster Hall on 15 June 2016. The subject for the debate has been chosen by Wendy Morton MP.
The brick and ceramic industries in the UK are small, employing around 12,500 people combined in 2014 (latest available data). This is down from 15,000 in 2009.
The industries together contributed approximately £560 million to economic output in 2014. This is higher than the end of the economic recession in 2009, although output has been volatile.
The number of businesses in these industries has fallen by around a quarter in each since 2009. There are currently 480 ceramic and brick manufacturing businesses in Great Britain, down from 640 in 2009.
The ceramics industry is concentrated in the West Midlands, which includes Staffordshire and the Potteries.
Around 60% of employment in the ceramics industry in Great Britain (totalling about 8,200) is situated in the West Midlands. In 2014, it employed 4,800 people in the West Midlands, around three-quarters of whom are involved in the manufacture of “ceramic household and ornamental articles”.
Employment in the brick manufacturing industry is a little more dispersed. Of the 4,300 people employed in the industry in Great Britain in 2014, close to 30% are in the East Midlands, 20% in the West Midlands and 15% in the South East.