§ Mr. Hordernasked the Paymaster General if she will make a statement about the effect of strike action in her office in Crawley; what services have been interrupted; how many people have been deprived of funds which they would otherwise have received; and what were the total sums involved.
§ Mrs. Shirley WilliamsThe strike of computer operators at my Crawley office from 5 March interrupted the issue of pension payments to 875,000 public service pensioners, the detailed accounting for payments issued by Government departments which maintain accounts at the Paymaster-General's office and the provision to the Treasury of certain statistics about those payments.
The two unions involved following talks with me and the assistant Paymaster General subsequently allowed sufficient staff to return to work for the resumption of pension issues in time to avoid any inconvenience to pensioners.
The transfer of funds between my office and the banks has not been affected.