HC Deb 29 July 1937 vol 326 cc3282-3
7. Mr. Leslie

asked the Minister of Labour what were the points of difficulty in the 1932 Convention concerning the minimum age of non-industrial employment which led the Governing Body of the International Labour Office to put the matter on the agenda of the International Labour Conference this year?

Mr. E. Brown

In putting the partial revision of the 1932 Convention on the Agenda of the 1937 Conference the Governing Body had in mind the following points:

The revision of the exceptions and exemptions in respect of children between 14 and 15 years of age;

The raising of the minimum age from 14 to 15 years;

The raising to 13 years of the minimum age for employment on light work outside school hours;

The registration of workers below a prescribed age;

The question of deleting the special provisions applying to India; and

The alteration of certain formal articles in the Convention.

Mr. Leslie

Was not the sole purpose to raise the age from 14 to 15?

Mr. Brown

No. The hon. Member asked me what were the points of difficulty which moved the Governing Body—it has nothing to do with the Government as such—to put the matter on the agenda. These are the points to which they attach importance, and which moved them to put it on the agenda, as is described in the question.

Mr. Leslie

Is it not the fact that in every case they were trying to improve the position, and that they did raise the age to 15?

Table showing in respect of insured persons, aged 16–64, classified as belonging to the jute industry, in England and Scotland, respectively, the estimated numbers insured at the beginning of July in each of the years 1934, 1935 and 1936, the average numbers recorded as unemployed in each of those years and the differences between these two series of figures.
Year. Estimated Numbers Insured at July. Average Numbers of Insured Persons Recorded as Unemployed. Differences.
England. Scotland. England. Scotland. England. Scotland.
1934 … … 420 31,350 105 10,880 315 20,470
1935 … … 400 30,190 113 8,868 287 21,322
1936 … … 370 30,170 98 7,996 272 22,174
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