HC Deb 26 February 1931 vol 248 cc2249-50
10. Mr. LAWTHER

asked the Minister of Labour how much help is being provided by her Department towards the running of voluntary employment agencies in Durham; how many officers have been loaned; and at what cost to her Department from January to the last available date?

Miss BONDFIELD

The only voluntary employment agency in the county of Durham which has been provided with help from the Ministry of Labour is that organised by Mrs. C. M. Headlam, C.B.E. In reply to a question asked by my hon. Friend, I explained on the 4th December last that the assistance formerly given to Mrs. Headlam had been discontinued as from July, 1929. I have, however, recently agreed, in view of the illness of Mrs. Headlam's secretary, who has to undergo an operation, to loan an officer of the Department for a strictly temporary period not to exceed three months, on the understanding that no question of an extension of that period will arise. Apart from the officer's salary, the only expense incurred is a small sum for daily travelling and subsistence.

Mr. LAWTHER

Can the right hon. Lady say whether or not it is contrary to the whole policy of Government Departments to loan an officer to private individuals when it is quite possible for them to obtain help from the large num- ber of people who are signing on in that very district?

Mr. WELLS

Are not these agencies finding work for those people who require it?

Miss BONDFIELD

There are a very large number of voluntary agencies which are able to find work for people and which do not get a loan of Government officers.

Mr. LAWTHER

May I have an answer to my supplementary question?

Miss BONDFIELD

The answer is that there are occasions when temporary Assistance is granted in supporting enterprises which may be of value to workers or to juveniles, or to any contingent work which bears upon the work of the Exchanges, and that has been done; but it is always of a purely temporary nature and put forward for the purpose of, what one might call, preliminary assistance.

Mr. McGOVERN

I should like to ask if this agency which is being subsidised is owned by the wife of a Conservative ex-Member of Parliament.

Colonel HOWARD-BURY

Has not this work been of very great value indeed?

Mr. MACLEAN

Arising out of the original reply—

HON. MEMBERS

Order!

Mr. SPEAKER

Sir William Wayland.

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