§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will publish a table showing how many people were made redundant in each of the nationalised industries for which he has responsibility in 1979 and 1980, the total cost of redundancy payments, and the minimum, maximum and average payments made in each case.
§ Mr. Michael MarshallThe information requested is as follows. An asterisk indicates that details are not available except at disproportionate cost.
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No. of redundancies Total (*) Cost (£000) Minimum (†) Payment (£) Maximum (†) Payment (£) Approx. (†) Average (£) British Steel Corporation 1978/79 12,000 35,00 Approx. one week's pay 1979/80 ** 16,300 69,000 ‡ * Post Office Posts and Giro 1979 46 49 69 6,315 1,063 1980 44 80 69 6,050 1,826 Post Office Telecoms 1979 80 120 * * 1,500 1980 55 78 * * 1,420 Notes:
* The timing of redundancy payments may extend beyond one year. "Total cost"—which includes ex-gratia payments—may therefore include payments to those made redundant in previous years.
† Employees may also be eligible for benefits under the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978, recovered from the Redundancy Fund.
‡ The highest paid production worker in BSC at age 60 with over 20 years' service would have received approximately £18,000 from all sources including statutory redundancy pay but very few payments were made at this level.
** For BSC, 1979/80 is the latest complete year available.