§ Mr. Hardyasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will take steps to protect the income of those miners who have accepted redundancy under the terms of the national agreements and who now face the loss of unemployment benefit.
§ Mr. David HuntI am looking urgently at the problem of mineworkers who have accepted redundancy and who may lose unemployment benefit. The Government are considering ways of resolving the problem.
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§ Mr. Hardyasked the Secretary of State for Energy how many persons are employed by the National Coal Board at the present time; how many he expects to be so employed in one year's time; and what was the number employed six years ago.
§ Mr. David HuntI understand from the National Coal Board that at 8 June 1985 there were 166,104 men on colliery books. In June 1979 the number was 232,546. I can make no accurate estimate of numbers on 21 June 1986.