To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the average number of days lost through strikes each year between 1974 and 1979 and between 1986 and 1991.

There were an average of 12.2 million working days lost each year between 1974 and 1979. That is nearly five times higher than the annual average between 1986 and 1991, which was 2·7 million days lost.