HC Deb 22 July 1902 vol 111 cc900-1
SIR WALTER FOSTER (Derbyshire, Ilkeston)

To ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether the Post Office has arranged to permit the inspection of †See (4) Debates eiii., 581. post office buildings by Factory Act officials when such inspection is considered necessary; whether the Postmaster General will direct that upon the staff making complaints in writing with reference to the sanitary condition of the buildings in which they work, an inspection will take place, and the result be communicated to the men concerned.

(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) The Postmaster General has made an arrangement with the Home Office under which he is able, if he considers it necessary, to avail himself of the services of a factory inspector, in dealing with any question whether a post office building fulfils the conditions of the Factory Acts, and he has already done so. Every complaint made by the staff as to the sanitary condition of a post office building is thoroughly investigated, but the Postmaster General cannot undertake to call in a factory inspector every time a complaint is made.