§ Mr. Neil Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what has been the total cost to British Steel since 1979 of statutory redundancy payments under the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 and any supplementary payments thereto.
§ Mr. Butcher[pursuant to his reply, 19 March 1984, c. 322]: Information in the form requested is not collected centrally by the British Steel Corporation and, to the extent available at individual works, could be obtained only with disproportionate effort and cost. In the four financial years 1979–80 to 1982–83, redundancy and related costs charged in the corporation's annual accounts totalled £827 million. Over this period BSC reduced its work force by 104,900, from 186,000 to 81,100.