§ 1. Mr. GEORGE GRIFFITHSasked the Minister of Labour the number of persons registered as unemployed at the latest available date at Barnsley, Wakefield, and South Kirkby, and the corresponding figures for the same date during the past five years?
§ The MINISTER of LABOUR (Mr. Ernest Brown)As the reply includes a table of figures I will, if I may, circulate a statement in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Following is the statement:
| Numbers of unemployed persons on the registers of the Barnsley, Wakefield and South Kirkby Employment Exchanges at the undermentioned dates. | |||
| Date. | Barnsley. | Wakefield. | South Kirkby. |
| 23rd September, 1935 | 12,610 | 6,980 | 2,201 |
| 24th September, 1934 | 11,478 | 7,368 | 5,132 |
| 25th September 1933 | 12,609 | 9,036 | 3,418 |
| 26th September 1932 | 15,572 | 9,352 | 6,854 |
| 14th September 1931 | 9,342 | 6,984 | 1,394 |
| 15th September 1930 | 11,307 | 7,178 | 1,260 |
§ 2. Mr. BATEYasked the Minister of Labour the number of unemployed in the county of Durham, including the boroughs, who are being paid by the Unemployment Assistance Board the full amount of benefit and the number who are paid less than the full amount at the latest available date?
§ Mr. BROWNThe number of such persons is not known and could not be ascertained without an examination of each individual case, which I should not feel justified in the Board to undertake; but I would point out that unemployment allowances are not related to unemployment benefit. Allowances are paid according to need and may be higher or lower than benefit, according to the circumstances of the case.
§ 3. Mr. BATEYasked the Minister of Labour the total amount of money spent in the county of Durham by the commissioner of the special area in order to provide work for the unemployed and the number of men provided with employment?
§ Mr. BROWNAs has frequently been stated in reply to similar questions, the undoubted benefits accruing to the special areas from the expenditure incurred by the commissioner for England and Wales cannot be apportioned on a county basis and, as the hon. Member is aware, it is not a function of the commissioner to provide relief works. It is not possible, therefore, to give the statistics asked for by the hon. Member.
§ Mr. BATEYWas it not understood when the House voted £2,000,000 that the commissioner would provide work for the unemployed and not give it to girl guides and boy scouts?
§ 12. Mr. GEORGE HALLasked the Minister of Labour the number of persons registered as unemployed at the Aberdare and Mountain Ash exchanges, giving the figures for the month of July in the following years 1930, 1932, 1933 and 1935?
§ Mr. BROWNAs the reply includes a table of figures I will, if I may, circulate a statement in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Following is the statement:
§ The following table gives the information desired:
| Unemployed persons on the registers of the Aberdare and Mountain Ash Employment Exchanges. | |||
| Date. | Aberdare Employment Exchange. | Mountain Ash Employment Exchange. | |
| 21st July, 1930 | … | 3,678 | 3,332 |
| 25th July, 1932 | … | 5,817 | 7,438 |
| 24th July, 1933 | … | 6,853 | 4,471 |
| 22nd July, 1935 | … | 6,187 | 4,903 |
§ 17. Mr. T. WILLIAMSasked the Minister of Labour how many persons have been unemployed for periods in excess of six months up to the last date for which figures are available?
§ Mr. BROWNStatistics are available only in respect of persons applying for insurance benefit or unemployment allowances. At 23rd September, 1935, there were 560,931 such persons who had been on the registers of Employment Exchanges in Great Britain for six months or more. A proportion of these, however, will have had one or more short spells of employment, lasting not more than three days each, during this period.