HC Deb 24 March 1902 vol 105 cc828-9
MR. STEVENSON (Suffolk, Eye)

I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board if he is aware that † See preceding Volume, p. 1270. the Greenwich Board of Guardians have been compelled to build a new workhouse at Grove Park at an estimated cost of nearly a quarter of a million sterling, although the guardians contend that there is no pressing need for such a building; is he aware that the new building is now ready for occupation; and, seeing that the guardians have, repeatedly asked the President to receive a deputation with a view to stating their case and in order to receive permission to; sell the building, will he state the grounds on which the request has been refused.

THE SECRETARY TO THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. GRANT LAWSON,) Yorkshire, N. R., Thirsk

Owing to the insufficiency of the accommodation for the indoor poor of the Greenwich Union, the Local Government Board, so long ago as 1893, suggested to the guardians that they should provide a new workhouse There was no compulsion, and ultimately the guardians with the consent of the Board purchased land and erected a new workhouse. An expenditure of about £190,000 has been authorised for the purpose. I understand that the building has now been handed over to the guardians by the contractors. For many years past, inspectors of the Department have reported that the present workhouse has been overcrowded—on one occasion, in 1899, the number of inmates in excess of the proper number being as many as 213. Besides the overcrowding, the inspectors' reports show that the existing buildings afford inadequate provision for the classification and proper treatment of the indoor poor, whether healthy or sick. In these circumstances, I was not prepared to take the responsibility of assenting to the proposal that the new workhouse should be sold, and I so informed the guardians, at the same time explaining the main reasons for my decision. It did not appear to me that there would be any advantage in my receiving a deputation on the subject. I may add that reports received by me this month show that the overcrowding and other unsatisfactory conditions of the old workhouse still continue.