asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list in the Official Report those countries in which he is aware that payments are made (a) from central Government funds and (b) from local authority funds to strikers or their families.

So far as I am aware, the following countries have public assistance schemes under which limited help in cash or kind, sometimes by way of loans, may be granted where the striker and his family are suffering particular hardship:

• Austria
• Belgium
• Canada
• Denmark
• Federal Republic of Germany
• France
• Ireland
• Italy
• Japan
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Sweden
• United Kingdom
• United States of America

The cost is generall shared between central government and local authorities but I do not have comprehensive information on this.Generally, unemployment insurance benefit is not paid to strikers. I understand that Belgium and certain states of the USA make such payments, though only in very restricted circumstances.