§ 72. Mr. GROVESasked the Minister of Health if he has any information showing that the large industrial towns with the greatest degree of unemployment show the highest birth rates, the greatest degree of overcrowding, and the highest mortality among infants; and what steps he proposes to effect alteration?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the MINISTRY of HEALTH (Sir Kingsley Wood)The figures for certain districts, with the highest average degree of unemployment for the 12 months ended February last, indicate that in the majority of these districts the birth-rate and the infant-mortality rate for the year 1924, and the percentage of population living more than two persons to a room, according to the Census returns for 1921, were above the average for England. There is not, however, sufficient correspondence between the figures to warrant any general. conclusion. The. Government are exploring all possible means of reducing unemployment, overcrowding and infant mortality