§ 52. Mr. Cookasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the policy of his Department in relation to those members of staff who demonstrated support for the Health Service workers on 22 September.
§ Mr. WaddingtonMy Department, in common with all other Departments, deducted pay for unauthorised absence in connection with industrial action in the usual way. Some 550 civil servants who had taken industrial action in connection with the National Health Service dispute on a previous occasion—230 in the Department of Employment group—were notified in writing before 22 September that if they again took unauthorised absence in connection with a dispute outside the Civil Service they would be liable to disciplinary proceedings. Disciplinary action has now been taken against the 58 DE group staff who defied this warning.