asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the cost of collating the figure of social security payments to Ford strikers' dependants; and how many man-hours were involved.
Decisions on all claims, including those from strikers, are recorded as a matter of course. The figures are normally collated and submitted monthly; they do not identify how many strikers' claims resulted from any one particular strike. Where there are large scale strikes, figures are submitted for particular disputes at weekly intervals and this is being done for the Ford strike. Little additional work was needed therefore to provide the figures given in answer to the previous question, but the cost of providing figures either in general or specifically cannot be calculated accurately because so many officers are involved and the work is an integral part of local office activity. Even an estimate could be provided only at disproportionate cost.