(a) The average number of persons employed by the Group during the year, including executive directors, is as follows:

	1999	1998
Production	11,012	9,195
Selling and distribution	1,264	1,194
Administration	1,501	1,239
	13,777	11,628
(b) The number of employees at 30 September	14,238	13,408

(c) Group employee costs - all employees including executive directors	1999 £m	1998 £m
Aggregate gross wages and salaries paid to the Group's employees	303.9	256.5
Employers' national insurance contributions	25.6	22.4
Employers' pension contributions	10.5	10.2
Total direct costs of employment	340.0	289.1
The information on directors' remuneration set out in tables 1 to 4 on pages 36 to 39 forms part of these accounts

(d) Pensions The Group operates a number of defined benefit and defined contribution pension schemes in its principal locations. Pension costs for the defined benefit schemes are assessed in accordance with actuarial advice and are charged to the profit and loss account so as to spread the cost on a straight line basis over the average remaining service lives of employees. Actuarial valuations of these schemes have been carried out by independent Actuaries in accordance with local legislative requirements. Details of the main schemes are set out below.

		Valuation of Assets		Principal Actuarial Assumptions
Pens- ion Fund	Latest Full Actu- arial Valu- ation	Actu- arial	Market	Valu- ation Method Adop- ted	Avg Invest- ment Rate of Return	Avg Salary Incr- eases	Avg Pens- ion Incr- eases	Divi- dend Growth	Spread- ing Method	Value of Fund Assets/ Accrued Benefits
Carlton Group	1July 1996	£49.4m	£54,7m	Projected Unit	9.0%	7.5%	3.0%	4.5%	Straight Line	112%
Central	5April 1997	£181.4m	£207,9m	Attained Age	8.5%	7.0%	4.5%	4.0%	Straight Line	114.6%
Technicolor US 1	January 1999	$40.0m	$40.0m	Projected Unit	9.25%	7.0%	N/A	N/A	Straight Line	128.3%

A valuation is currently being prepared for the Carlton Group Scheme based on updated assumptions; the removal of ACT credits will impact on the fund and, as an interim measure, contributions to the Scheme were increased with effect from October 1998. The Central Scheme has been closed to new entrants since 1994. The 1997 valuation of the Central Scheme allowed for the removal of ACT credits and will be updated as at 5 April 2000, the date of the next actuarial valuation. The net pension cost of the defined benefit schemes was £8.2m (1998 - £7.6m). The net pension cost of the defined contribution schemes was £2.3m (1998 - £2.6m). At 30 September 1999 accrued pension costs were £4.2m (1998 - £5.1m).