HC Deb 08 November 1937 vol 328 cc1407-8
52. Mr. Viant

asked the Postmaster-General the amount of overtime that has been worked during the six months ended 30th September, 1937, by those engaged in the engineering department of the London telephone service, and also for similar departments in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester, Bristol and Leeds?

Major Tryon

As the reply contains a number of figures I will, with the hon. Member's permission, circulate them in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Following are the figures:

The number of hours of overtime worked during the six months ended 30th September, 1937, by engineering workmen in the areas referred to is as follows:

London … … 805,860
Glasgow … … 76,407
Edinburgh … … 56,028
Manchester … … 80,340
Bristol … … 44,189
Leeds … … 56,679
These figures show an increase of 4.7 per cent. as compared with the figures for 1936 previously given to the hon. Member, but during the six months in question there was an increase of over 1,250 in the number of engineering workmen employed in the districts concerned.

54. Mr. Viant

asked the Postmaster-General whether there is any scarcity in the engineering department of men suitable for promotion to the posts of executive engineers, assistant engineers, chief inspectors, and inspectors; if so, can he state the reasons for same; and what steps does he propose to adopt to make good the shortage?

Major Tryon

There is no shortage of qualified candidates in the Engineering Department for promotion to the classes of executive engineer, assistant engineer and chief inspector. Vacancies on the class of inspector are filled partly by promotion and partly also by means of open and limited competitions. There is at present a shortage of candidates for the limited competitions, and it is proposed to make good this shortage by drawing more freely from the open competitions.