§ 28. Mr. REMERasked the Minister of Labour whether an investigator has been appointed for the Civil Liabilities Department in the Hebrides and the Western Isles; what is his salary and the expenses 2165 of this office: what is the work justifying this appointment; and whether he will make a complete inquiry into this appointment and will place upon the Table of the House the Report of the Commissioner on this subject?
§ 113. Mr. REMERasked the Secretary to the Treasury if he sanctioned the appointment recently of an investigator to the Civil Liabilities Department for the Hebrides and Western Isles of Scotland; if before doing so the official concerned took steps to ascertain if such an appointment was necessary by consulting the recent Report of the new Commissioner for the North of Scotland on this point; and can he state whether the investigator is an ex-officer needing assistance or is possessed of ample private means of his own?
§ The MINISTER of LABOUR (Dr. Macnamara)I have been asked by my right hon. Friend the Secretary to the Treasury to answer also the question addressed to him. The appointment of investigation officers in connection with the new scheme for local decision under the Civil Liabilities Fund was sanctioned by the Treasury. The Inverness district, within which this particular appointment falls, comprises the counties of Caithness, Sutherland, Ross and Cromarty, Elgin, Nairn, Inverness and Argyle, and the Islands of Lewis, Harris, North and South Uist, together with the Orkney and Shetland Islands. The total number of cases at the Inverness office for the week ending 11th June was 146. The principle on which the Department acts is to have a personal interview in every case in order to give the applicant a full opportunity of stating his case. This is particularly necessary in such a district where the men, crofters and fishermen, naturally find difficulty in filling up the forms. I am quite sure that my hon. Friend and all Members of the House would wish the cases of these men to be dealt with as promptly and as adequately as possible. After very careful consideration of the whole facts, however, I am proposing to make re-arrangements by which it may be possible shortly to withdraw this investigator from the area, if this can be done without prejudicing the right of the men to prompt determination of their claims. I should add that I have no information as to the private means of the officer in question who was appointed on the recom- 2166 mendation of the Selection Board for Scotland.
Captain COOTEIs it not a fact that in this particular district there were many men who had insufficient or no knowledge of the facilities offered by the Civil Liabilities Department?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAYes, undoubtedly. While on the whole the scheme is not so expensive, it has enormously increased the efficiency. The present head of this Department, Captain McLaren, had to face 70,000 arrears, and I am very much obliged to him for having cleared them and having got to current cases.
Dr. MURRAYWas not this temporary appointment necessitated by the fact that a large proportion of the population were called away on the first day of the War and had to leave their farms, their stock, their boats and nets, and that they were in the position of one-man businesses and suffered great damage.
§ Dr. MACNAMARAYes, this is a difficult district, and we must do our best to meet these men. I am going into the matter very carefully and I think I can arrange without prejudicing the men's claims to prompt attention, to withdraw this investigator in a short time.