§ Mr. RAMSAY MACDONALDasked the Home Secretary whether the Factory Department has formed any estimate of the proportion of its inspectors' time devoted to office work during the year; and whether that proportion has increased during the decennial period ending 1909?
§ Mr. MASTERMANThe proportion of the time of the district staff spent in office work in 1909 was 29 per cent. Information is not available for the years before 1904, but the proportions in that and the following years were as follows:—1904 and 1905, 26 per cent.; 1906, 27 per cent.; 1907 and 1908, 29 per cent.
§ Mr. RAMSAY MACDONALDasked the Home Secretary what is the number of factories and workshops not visited in 1909; and the number not visited since 1907?
§ Mr. MASTERMANDuring 1909, 23,110 factories and 44,388 workshops (including men's workshops) were unvisited by factory inspectors, and 5,249 factories and 14,736 workshops were unvisited by the district staff either in 1909 or 1908. I may add that the effect of the additions recently made to the staff was not fully felt in 1909, and that considerable demands were made on the time of the staff in connection with inquiries by Departmental Committees. Four thousand new factories and workshops also were added to the list during the year, and an unusually large number of additional works were brought under regulations for dangerous trades, for which more frequent visits are required.
§ Mr. MASTERMANI think they include all the factories and workshops registered as factories and workshops?