15. Miss Wardasked the Minister of Labour whether, in view of the fact that prolonged unemployment has made many men unfit to accept immediate employment in the mining industry in Northumberland, he will consider relating the Aldershot experiment to specific men who, when fit, can obtain specific jobs?
§ Mr. E. BrownI would remind my hon. Friend that the object of the Ministry's instructional centres is already that which she suggests. It has been made clear in Northumberland that men who require physical reconditioning before they can be accepted for employment in the mines can obtain such reconditioning in the instructional centres. The question whether some minor modifications of the treatment accorded in instructional centres are required in the light of the Aldershot experiment is under consideration, but I am satisfied that no major changes are shown by that experiment to be required.
Miss WardMay I ask whether specific jobs are related to specific persons in training camps? Am I right in understanding that no preference is given to men who have gone to the camps when they come back? Is there to be an alteration in policy?
§ Mr. BrownI would remind the hon. Member that the Ministry of Labour was the pioneer in this type of effort.
§ Mr. PalingIn view of the fact that this experiment was in the main concerned with giving sufficient food, why cannot employés be given sufficient food in their own homes to keep them fit there?