HC Deb 03 November 1932 vol 269 cc1947-8
5. Captain FRASER

asked the Minister of Labour if, in connection with the Middlesex sewage scheme, he will state what proportion of labour employed is local and what proportion is transferred from distressed areas; what percentage of local labour is ex-service; what percentage of the imported labour is ex-service; what is the total number of men employed; and what is the percentage of ex-service men in this total?

Mr. HUDSON

Approximately 31 per cent. of the men at present employed on the scheme are local men and 69 per cent. are men transferred from the depressed areas. Forty-seven per cent. of the local men and 23 per cent. of the transferred men employed are ex-service men. The total number of men working on the scheme on the 28th October was 1,871, of whom 31 per cent. were ex-service men.

Captain FRASER

Will my hon. Friend do all he can to get his local officers to make an effort, in the first instance, on behalf of ex-service men when it is proposed to transfer men?

Mr. HUDSON

That is what we are doing, but my hon. and gallant Friend will realise that the men who are suitable for transference from the depressed areas are mainly young men who were not old enough to have served in the War, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain the proportion of 75 per cent. of ex-service men. We are doing everything we can to keep the percentage as high as possible.

Captain FRASER

Is it not a fact that there are a great number of ex-service men in those areas who are unemployed?

Mr. HUDSON

Yes, but they are not necessarily men who can be transferred to this kind of work. In most cases they are married men with families.

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