asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether persons who are dismissed from employment because they refused to join a particular trade union are eligible for unemployment pay.

Persons who are dismissed from their employment because of their refusal to join a particular trade union are not specifically disqualified for receiving unemployment benefit. It is for the insurance officer and, on appeal, for the local tribunal and the National Insurance Commissioner to decide in the circumstances of a particular case whether such a refusal constitutes grounds for disqualification under Section 20 of the Social Security Act 1975.