§ 67. Mr. WATTasked the Minister of Labour whether advisory committees were set up several months ago throughout the country in the various localities with a view to consultation with his Department on all matters connected with such localities; if so, will he say how many times in any case such advisory committees have been convened; and, in particular, whether the Glasgow Committee has been convened since its inception, among other things, to consider the suitability of the Sauchiehall Street site for a Labour Ex change, considering its enormous cost in war-time?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the MINISTRY of LABOUR (Mr. Bridgeman)Out of 240 committees proposed for Great Britain, 222 have already met from one to seven times, according to the date of formation. The meetings are, as a rule, held monthly. In some cases the holding of the first meeting has been delayed owing to special difficulties in connection with the formation of the committee or in arranging a date which will suit all parties, and one of these cases is that of Glasgow, where, however, a meeting has now been fixed for 14th May. Owing to this inevitable delay, there has been no opportunity to consult the committee beforehand with regard to the Sauchiehall premises, but at the meeting 1869 on 14th May the reasons which influenced the Department in deciding to remove the principal Exchange in Glasgow to these premises will be laid before the committee. I should add that, as will appear from my previous answers on this subject, the cost of leasing these premises is very moderate.