§ Mr. David Youngasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many working days were lost in each of the last five years from (a) strikes and (b) illness; and if he will itemise his reply region by region and in total.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe information is as follows:
(a) Working days lost through stoppages of work caused by industrial disputes. Thousands Region 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 South East 1,839 2,683 4,487 439 843 East Anglia 159 115 548 58 80 South Western 298 182 2,423 117 171 West Midlands 2,141 1,299 4,199 838 613 East Midlands 533 270 2,351 725 116 Yorks and Humberside 792 799 3,115 2,832 449 North Western 1,934 1,983 4,516 533 692 Northern 698 481 2,164 2,006 341 Wales 667 444 1,642 2,918 292 Scotland 935 886 3,298 1,447 599 Northern Ireland 146 264 730 49 69 United Kingdom 10,142 9,405 29,474 11,964 4,266 (b) Information about the numbers of working days lost due to illness is not available.
I am advised by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services that "Social Security Statistics 1981", a copy of which is in the Library, gives the number of days of certified incapacity notified for sickness and invalidity benefit and for injury benefit in the form requested (tables 3.70 and 20.68 respectively, pages 25 and 118). Figures for 1980–81 are not yet available because of industrial action.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many working days have been lost annually since 1974. as a result of industrial disputes in the 135W public and in the private sectors, respectively; and if he will give these figures in each case as a proportion of the total number of working days in the two sectors.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe information on recorded stoppages of work due to industrial disputes is as follows:
Number of working days lost Public sector Private sector 1974 6,993,000 7,757,000 1975 786,000 5,226,000 1976 510,000 2,774,000 1977 2,087,000 8,055,000 1978 1,433,000 7,972,000 1979 5,052,000 24,423,000 1980 9,825,000 2,139,000 1981 1,866,000 2,400,000 These figures are not comprehensive, or fully comparable between the public and private sectors, because of the difficulty of ensuring full recording of small disputes. Moreover, some stoppages involving workers in both the public and private sectors have been allocated to the sector more affected. In each sector in each year the number of working days lost through stoppages has been less than 1 per cent. of the total available working days in the approporiate sector.