§ 50. Mr. J. H. Osbornasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make an estimate of the value of benefits paid to the families of those on official and unofficial strikes in the first quarter of 1971; and how this compares with each quarter in 1970.
§ Sir K. JosephThe provisional amount of supplementary benefit paid during disputes, whether official or unofficial, for the dependants of persons involved in them up to Tuesday, 23rd March in the current quarter is £3,532,105. With permission I will circulate the quarterly figures for 1970 in the OFFICIAL REPORT but the current quarter figure was more than nine times that of their average.
Following is the information:
Supplementary benefit paid during trade disputes for the dependants of persons involved in them during 1970. Quarter £ January-March … … 193,062 April-June … … 367,881 July-September … … 310,846 October-December … … 574,123
§ 54. Mr. Bruce-Gardyneasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the total cost to public funds of supplementary benefits paid to strikers and their dependants during the first three months of 1971; and what percentage change this represents on the corresponding periods of 1970 and 1964, respectively.
70W
§ Mr. DeanThe provisional amount of supplementary benefit paid during trade disputes to persons involved in them up to Tuesday, 23rd March in the current quarter is £3,535,892. This is more than 18 times the corresponding figure for 1970 and more than 230 times that for 1964.