To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate the UK Statistics Authority has made of the number of working days lost due to industrial action in the (a) public and (b) private sector in each of the last five years. (303028)

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

Letter from Jil Matheson, dated November 2009:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question on the number of days of work lost due to industrial action in the (a) public sector and (b) private sector in each of the last five years. (303028)

The Office for National Statistics compiles monthly labour disputes statistics for the UK. They exclude disputes that do not result in a stoppage of work, and stoppages involving fewer than ten workers or lasting less than one day, unless the total number of working days lost in the dispute is 100 or more.

The following table provides estimates of working days lost in the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2008.