asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many strikes there have been in (a) private sector companies and (b) companies in the public sector since June 1979 to the latest convenient date.

The information available on stoppages beginning in the years 1979 and 1980 is as follows:

Number of industrial stoppages recorded
	Private sector	Public sector
1979	1,517	563
1980	796	534

These figures are not comprehensive, or fully comparable between the public and private sectors, because of the difficulty of ensuring full recording of small disputes. Morevsesr, some stoppages involving workers in both the public and private sectors have been allocated to the sector more affected.