§ Where an individual certificate of exemption has been granted to a man on the ground that he is employed or engaged in work which has been certified by a Government Department to be work of national importance and the certificate ceases to be in force owing to the occupation having ceased to be so certified, or owing to the imposition of conditions as to age or otherwise with which the man does not comply, the right of renewal of the certificate of exemption held by the man shall be limited to an application on the grounds specified in paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) of Sub-section (1) of Section two of the principal Act.
§ Clause brought up, and read the first time.
Mr. GRIFFITHI beg to move, "That the Clause be read a second time."
I do not know whether the learned Solicitor-General has read this Amendment. It refers to a small but, as I submit, a rather important point. As he is aware, the Government Departments determine that certain work is of national importance, and certify that that work is of national importance, and a man, as long as he is employed in that work, is exempt from the provisions of the Act. When the work ceases to be certified as of national importance, or when the workman fails to comply with certain conditions of his exemption, he then goes back to the tribunal. The effect of this Amendment is to deprive him of 1095 the opportunity of applying for exemption under paragraph (a) of Section 2 of the original Act, and I submit that under the circumstances detailed in this Amendment he ought not to avail himself of (a), but ought to confine himself to (b), (c), and (d), because the Government having said that his work is no longer of national importance it ought not to be open for the tribunal to say that it is. Surely a Government Department having decided once for all that the work is no longer of national importance, it ought not to be open to the tribunal to decide in a contrary sense. I therefore submit that this is a reasonable Amendment, and hope the Government will accept it.
§ Sir G. CAVEI am not quite sure whether my right hon. Friend has quite appreciated the effect of this new Clause. He takes the case of a man whose occupation has been starred as one of national importance, but is afterwards removed from the starred list, and whose exemption would therefore come to an end. He proposes in such a case that the man shall not have an individual right to apply for exemption on the ground stated under letter (a), Sub-section (1) of Section 2 of the principal Act. If the Amendment is passed, no man who falls within it can make application for exemption on a ground specially applying to himself. That would not be quite fair, because the man, when in a reserved occupation, would naturally not apply for exemption on any ground of individual hardship. If his occupation ceases to be starred, he ought to be entitled to make his individual claim whatever it may be, and to put it forward on private grounds. He ought not to be in a worse position in regard to his private claim than those who do not happen ever to have been in a starred occupation. I think, if the matter is carefully considered, it will be seen that this Amendment would act unfairly in certain individual cases, and I hope, for the reason I have given, my hon. and learned Friend will not press it.
§ Motion and Clause, by leave, withdrawn.