§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will make a statement in reply to the letter sent to him by the hon. Member for Newham, North-West on 21st December 1977 concerning the alleged misuse of the social welfare payments to bring pressure to bear upon firemen on strike to return to work.
§ Mr. OrmeNo such misuse occurred. When I met representatives of the Fire Brigades Union on 20th December I was able to assure them that supplementary benefit claims from their members were being dealt with in accordance with the rules which apply in all trade disputes. The administration of the rules is the responsibility of the Supplementary Benefits Commission and they have not been modified in the firemen's strike. Any local errors in applying the rules have been and will be corrected. The Government have not intervened in any way, nor would it have been proper for them to do so.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will publish in the Official Report details of the circular issued by his Department just before Christmas to restrain payments to firemen on strike; whether such a circular has ever been issued before; and whether he will make a statement on his discussions with trade union represenatives on this subject held on Tuesday 20th December 1977.
§ Mr. OrmeAdvice was given to local offices by regional offices on a number 681W of points where this was necessary to clarify the application of the law and the policy of the Supplementary Benefits Commission to the circumstances of particular cases. When the Chairman of the Commission and I met the Fire Brigades Union representatives on 20th December they raised a number of further points which called for clarification or reminders, and regional offices were asked to issue appropriate guidance to the local offices accordingly. There is a continual flow of such advice and guidance, and trade disputes are just one among a wide variety of subjects covered. I assured the Fire Brigades Union that firemen on strike were being dealt with entirely in accordance with the rules which apply in all trade disputes. They raised two points in particular—the treatment of tax refunds, and the payment of heating additions the law and policy on these was explained to them.