HC Deb 23 June 1938 vol 337 cc1242-4
16. Mr. Batey

asked the Minister of Labour the amount of money spent on the Team Valley Estate and the number of men of 21 years of age and over employed in the factories on the estate?

Mr. E. Brown

The amount advanced out of the Special Areas Fund to the North-Eastern Trading Estates Company for the development of the Team Valley Estate and the erection of factories thereon is £1,260,000. I have no information as regards the second part of the question.

Mr. Batey

The Minister has been asked the same question before, and is he not going to try to get the information as to the number of men employed over 21 years of age?

Mr. Brown

I could do it only by asking each individual employer. The House must understand that in the Statistical Department of the Ministry there is an enormous amount of work to be done, and I have to do my very best to see that the essential facts are obtained. In this case I do not think that there is sufficient public interest in this subject, unless I have much wider considerations than I have had already.

Mr. Dalton

Have we not frequently been told that this scheme is supposed to be going to make a great contribution towards solving the unemployment problem in the North-East? What is to prevent the right hon. Gentleman causing some junior clerk in his Department to send a letter to a couple of dozen employers concerned?

Mr. Brown

This is only one of a whole series of specific questions that are asked. The hon. Member says that this is supposed to be going to make a big contribution towards solving the unemployment problem. As a matter of fact, it is making a very remarkable contribution.

Mr. Dalton

Does the right hon. Gentleman realise that it is not all girls but other forms of labour easily sweated by these employers; it is grown-up men, and why cannot we have the facts?

Mr. Brown

The hon. Gentleman will not advance the cause of reason by thumping that Box and making assertions of that kind. I am concerned not only for men and boys but girls and women—all who are unemployed.

Mr. Batey

The Minister said that the Government have spent over £1,000,000 on this scheme, and if I said that there are very few men over 21 employed, would that be true?

Mr. Brown

I have told the hon. Member that I have not made inquiries, and he knows perfectly well that I cannot answer a question of that kind without having accurate information.

Mr. Attlee

Does not the right hon. Gentleman realise that Members of this House are asking for information, and that it is not for him to judge whether it is desirable or not?

Mr. Brown

I beg the right hon. Gentleman's pardon. It is for me, in the exercise of my responsibilities, to see how best the administrative machine can be used for the convenience of Members and for the public service.

Miss Wilkinson

On a point of Order. May I ask, Mr. Speaker, for your protection of Private Members in this matter? Are we to have a censorship of the type of question we might lawfully ask because the Minister says it is too much bother to answer it?

Mr. Speaker

I do not think that the hon. Lady should interpret what the Minister said in that way. A Minister often indicates that on account of expense or for some other reason he is not justified in trying to obtain the information.

Mr. Attlee

The Minister has not suggested that there is any expense at all, and it has been pointed out that it is merely a matter of writing a few letters.

Mr. J. Griffiths

Has the Minister the sole right of judging whether the information asked for will be so costly as to deprive an hon. Member of the information he seeks?

Mr. Buchanan

Is it right for the Minister, in order to defend the inefficiency of his Department to make a plea which, in fact, is not correct, that to make this inquiry would be a waste of public money?

Mr. Brown

I have made no such statement whatever.

Mr. Sexton

You might think that the trading estate is in the Jordan Valley, and not in the Team Valley.

22. Mr. David Adams

asked the Minister of Labour whether, in the provision of further trading esstates, it is his intention to give consideration to the desirability of planning for satellite towns, where practicable, in connection therewith; and whether this question was reviewed during the inception of the Team Valley Trading Estate?

Mr. Brown

In selecting sites for the trading estates, the trading estate companies took into consideration the availability of labour for which housing accommodation was already in existence, and having regard to the accessibility of the sites chosen it is not anticipated that any substantial provision of new housing accommodation will be required.

Mr. Adams

I did not ask merely whether there was labour available or not, but whether the question of the creation of satellite towns in an area where there is, as is in the Team Valley Estate, an abundance of land, has been considered, and whether it will be considered in future?

Mr. Brown

If the hon. Gentleman looks at the answer he will see that I said that that was one of the points which the estate company had in mind in selecting this site.

Mr. Shinwell

Can the right hon. Gentleman explain why, in view of the fact that this scheme is financed by public money, the Government cannot exercise a measure of control?

Mr. Brown

This thing has been done throughout by the company under the powers given to the Commissioner, and in the closest contact with the Government.

Mr. Shinwell

Is there any direct control by the Ministry?