§ Mrs. Knightasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to overcome the situation whereby repayment of national savings certificates is being stopped through industrial action.
§ Mr. Denzil Davies, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 19 March 1979; Vol. 964, c. 446], gave the following information:
The repayment of national savings certificates has been stopped by the actions of members of the Society of Civil and Public Servants and of the Civil and Public Services Association in support of their pay claim which is the subject of current negotiations between the Government and the Civil Service unions. I regret very much the inconvenience, anxiety or hardship caused to investors who wish to encash certificates but are unable to do so because of industrial action which has halted one of the computer centres of the Department for National Savings. The delayed applications will be processed as quickly as possible once normal working is resumed. Until last week the savings certificate and save-as-you-earn office were operating their existing system for making urgent 565W repayments. Unfortunately, the Civil Service unions involved in the dispute are now preventing those arrangements from operating.