41. Mr. GURNEY BRAITHWAITEasked the First Commissioner of Works what is the estimated annual cost of maintenance, when completed, of the Employment Exchange at present in course of construction at West Street, Sheffield?
§ Mr. R. S. HUDSONThe First Commissioner is unavoidably absent and has asked me to reply. The estimated cost of the structural maintenance of the new Sheffield Employment Exchange building, when completed, is £350 a year. This sum includes the estimated cost of periodical painting, washing down, minor alterations and repairs.
Mr. BRAITHWAITEIs the hon. Member aware of the strong local feeling there is in Sheffield that the existing Employment Exchanges are fully adequate for the work, and that the new one is quite unnecessary?
§ Mr. HUDSONNo, Sir, because the conditions in the present Exchange are such that it is impossible for us to continue with them. I may add, as an indication of what they are, that every Tuesday we have to clear out almost half the premises, including all our interviewing side of the premises, take down the tables, and hand it over for the use of farmers and merchants for the purposes of a corn exchange.
Mr. BRAITHWAITECan the hon. Gentleman inform me which Employment Exchange it is proposed to close when the new one is ready?
§ Mr. HUDSONThere are no less than seven buildings in occupation, at rents totalling over £5,000 a year, and that arrangement is most uneconomical both from the point of view of supervision and management and the economy of the staff.
§ 42. Sir BERTRAM FALLEasked the First Commissioner of Works whether, in the interests of economy, he will give an assurance that no new Employment Exchanges are to be built in the near future?
§ Mr. HUDSONI have been asked to reply. No such assurance can be given. In view of the urgent need for economy, the rehousing of the new Employment Exchange premises has already been greatly retarded.
§ Sir B. FALLEAre we to continue the policy of the last Government, which built 49 new Exchanges?
§ Mr. HUDSONWe have cut down the building programme very substantially.