asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how much was paid out weekly by his Department in supplementary benefit to, respectively, strikers and dependants during the recent miners' strike inclusively from 8th February till a fortnight after the end of the strike, in respectively, the Northern, Yorkshire-Humberside, East Midlands, East Anglia, London South, South West, Wales, West Midlands, North West Manchester, North West Merseyside and Scottish Regions.

The information is as Table (see cols. 341–342).

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the total cost to public funds of supplementary benefits paid to those involved in the British Leyland strike at Bathgate and their dependants, and of payments made after the resumption of work, and also of the administrative costs of making these payments to suit the convenience of recipients.

The amount paid up to 14th March in the dispute at British Leyland, Bathgate, was £11 to strikers themselves and £33,219 for dependants. Amounts paid after resumption of work are not yet known, nor is the administrative cost of paying supplementary benefit in this dispute.