§ MR. TENNANT (Berwickshire)I desire to ask the Under Secretary for the Home Department a Question, of which I have given him private notice—namely, whether he is in a position to state what steps the Home Office propose to take to carry out the recommendations contained in the three Reports recently laid upon the Table relating to (1) phosphorus; (2) lead poisoning in potteries; (3) shop clubs?
MR. COLLNGSI hope that after the Easter Recess the Secretary of State will be able to make a statement as to the action which the Home Office will take on the Reports dealing with 511 phosphorus and lead poisoning. In the meantime, I may refer the honourable Member to the Memorandum by the Chief Inspector of Factories which is prefixed to the Phosphorus Report, and to the Circular on the Lead Poisoning Report which the Home Office is issuing to-day, as indicating the general lines of probable action. I am not yet in a position to say what action the Secretary of State will decide to take on the Report of the Shop Clubs Committee.
§ MR. TENNANTI desire, then, to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether, in view of the recommendations contained in the Report of Professor E. Thorpe and Professor T. Oliver, the Government will consider the advisability of issuing instructions to the various Departments of the State that all china and earthenware purchased by them should be coated with a leadless glaze.
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURYThe Report to which the honourable Member refers has not yet come under my notice, but all the recommendations are being considered by the Secretary of State. I am not yet in a position to state what decision he has arrived at.