§ Mr. Skinnerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will now restore the payments of £15 per week to each striker in the coal mining industry now that the courts have declared it not to be a bona fide trade dispute.
§ Mr. NewtonThe deduction of £15 from any supplementary benefit payable to a person involved in a trade dispute is required by section 6 of the Social Security (No. 2) Act 1980. Neither that Act nor the Social Security Act 1975, where the term "trade dispute" is defined, distinguishes between disputes which are official or unofficial or, indeed, lawful or unlawful.