HC Deb 17 March 1980 vol 981 c40W
Mr. Ralph Howell

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list in the Official Report those countries in which he is aware that payment for strikers and their families is (a) paid and administered by central Government and (b) paid out of central Government funds but administered by local authority.

Mr. Prentice

So far as I am aware, it is only in the United Kingdom that social assistance to strikers and their families is both financed and administered by central Government. In the Irish Republic such assistance is, I understand financed out of central Government funds but administered by local authorities. In Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and the United States of America assistance for strikers or their families is administered by local authorities and financed in part at least out of central Government funds.