§ 35. Mr. HARDIEasked the Minister of Labour whether he will send to members of rota committees all information such as is given to officials of Employment Exchanges?
§ Sir A. STEEL-MAITLANDMemoranda, are issued to rota committees and to other committees on all matters which come before them. Instructions have also 1294 naturally to be issued to officers of the Department on matters which never come before committees. To issue such instructions to rota committees would not assist them in their work and would add materially to the cost of administration.
§ Mr. HARDIEIn certain cases which come before the committee they have not got all the Circulars which are sent to the officials of the Exchanges, and they have not got the complete evidence on which to come to a just decision.
§ Sir A. STEEL-MAITLANDIn matters which affect the work of the committee the rule is that they get all these Circulars, but a large number of them deal with staff matters and purely technical questions and questions which have to be dealt with from a purely technical point of view. These are the cases to which I refer, in which it would not be worth while to send the Circulars to the committee.
§ Mr. HARDIEDoes the right hon. Gentleman suggest that the committee are not dealing with technical matters They are asked by the Ministry of Labour to deal technically with these cases. Why should they be denied this evidence?
§ Sir A. STEEL-MAITLANDThe hon. Gentleman misunderstands me. All those Circulars which could in any way affect the work of the committee are sent. I think that I could satisfy the hon. Gentleman if he would let me know the eases which he has in mind. The Circulars which are not sent are those which would not be of any assistance in carrying out the work.