50. Mr. F. HALL (Dulwich)asked the Secretary to the Treasury if he will state at what offices in London girls are employed in a temporary capacity on the work of the National Health Insurance Commission, the number of girls at each office, with the limits of age and rates of pay, and at what age the girls are dismissed from the service; whether any effort is first made to absorb them into other branches of the Civil Service, where their training and service would be of use; and if any money compensation is made to these girls who arc dismissed on attaining a certain age?
Mr. BENNGirls are employed in a temporary capacity at the Maida Vale and Leonard Street branch offices of the National Health Insurance Commission. The numbers employed are 56 and 102, respectively. No definite age limit has been laid down for these employés. The ages of those at present engaged range front fourteen to seventeen years, and the wages vary from 12s. to 14s. per week for the elder girls, and 9s. to 12s. per week for the younger. The work is purely of a temporary character, and the other points in the hon. Member's question have not yet arisen. I may add, however, that some girls have already been advanced to the grade of temporary woman clerk, with wages varying from 18s. to 25s. per week.