§ 4. Mr. HERBERT WILLIAMSasked the Minister of Labour whether he can furnish an estimate of the number of juveniles under the age of 16 now in employment; and whether, for comparison, he can state the corresponding numbers at the times of the censuses of 1931 and 1911, respectively?
Mr. STANLEYPrecise statistics on this point are not available, but it is estimated that the total number of juveniles under the age of 16 years in employment at the middle of April, 1935, exceeded the corresponding total at the date of the 1931 Census of Population by nearly 150,000. The information which would be required to enable a similar comparison to be made between the years 1931 and 1911 is not available, but the total numbers of juveniles aged under 16 years returned as gainfully occupied (including those unemployed) at the 1931 Population Census was 806,983, and at the 1911 Census was 1,083,214. The figure for 1911 included 148,023 juveniles aged under 14 years, whereas those for 1931 relate to juveniles of 14 and 15 years of age.
§ Mr. PIKEIs it true that in many industrial areas there is a very grave shortage of juvenile labour; and can the right hon. Gentleman say what effect raising the school-leaving age to 16 will have on this problem?
§ Mr. SPEAKERThat matter hardly arises on this question.