§ Mr. GrocottTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for The Wrekin of 26 November,Official Report, column 764, he will identify the source of his figures on public holidays in the Netherlands; and if he will list each of the seven public holidays to which he referred.
§ Mr. ForthThe figures that I gave to the hon. Member are contained in the HMSO official diary for 1991 and have been confirmed by Employment Department officials with the royal Netherlands embassy in London. These are new year's day; Good Friday; Easter Monday; Ascension day; Whit Monday; Christmas and Boxing day.
I am aware that the Netherlands also has one or two days taken as holidays by some groups of workers; these are not considered public holidays by the Dutch Government.