§ 4. Mr. A. Jenkinsasked the Minister of Labour the number of adult male persons now signing the unemployment register at Pontypool, Blaenavon and Pontnewydd?
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydAt 15th May, 1939, the latest date for which figures are available, the numbers of unemployed men, aged 18 years and over, on the registers of the Pontypool, Blaenavon and Pontnewydd Employment Exchanges, were 910, 522 and 561, respectively.
§ 5. Mr. Jenkinsasked the Minister of Labour the number of persons now employed at the Glascoed (Monmouthshire) Ordnance Works, and the number at present employed who have been recruited through the Employment Ex changes in Monmouthshire?
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydI am informed that the number of workpeople employed on the construction of the Glascoed Ordnance Works on 22nd May was 4,574. Since the beginning of the work, 3,446 placings have been made from the registers of Employment Exchanges in Monmouthshire, and it is estimated that not less than 90 per cent, of the men so placed are still employed.
§ Mr. JenkinsCan the hon. Gentleman explain why more than 1,000 people have 568 been recruited for this Government work notwithstanding the fact that there are more than 1,000 people still unemployed in the area. Have the 1,000 people been recruited from outside the area?
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThe hon. Member must not understand that. I have given in my answer the number recruited through the Employment Exchanges in Monmouthshire. In addition, our information is that probably another 350 men from Monmouthshire are now working on the plant who were not recruited through the Employment Exchanges. Apart from that, 615 other men, recruited from exchanges outside the county, are working on these works.
§ Mr. E. J. WilliamsDoes not the hon. Gentleman think the time has arrived when labour should be recruited entirely through the Employment Exchange, seeing that an enormous amount of public money is being spent on these contracts?
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThat matter is under active consideration. At the moment the obligation on employers in such cases is to notify; there is no obligation to lake labour from the exchange.
§ 6. Mr. Jenkinsasked the Minister of Labour why instructions have been issued to the contractors and the Employment Exchanges that no person who is registered as an agricultural workman, even though unemployed, is to be employed at the Glascoed Works, Monmouthshire, and as this seriously curtails the liberties of agricultural workpeople, will he take immediate steps to see that such instructions are withdrawn?
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydI am not aware that any such instruction has been issued. It is, however, the practice, when Government contracts are let in rural districts, for a slip to be affixed to the contract informing the contractor that it is desired to avoid withdrawal to the temporary work involved in the contract of men who normally are permanently engaged in agriculture. In accordance with this principle, the Employment Exchanges do not submit agricultural workers to vacancies on Government contracts so long as suitable industrial workers are unemployed and available for submission.
§ Mr. JenkinsIs the hon. Gentleman aware that the manager of the Chepstow Employment Exchange has notified 569 people locally that instructions have been received by the contractors not to give employment to agricultural workpeople of any kind, even though they are unemployed; and, if that be so, does he not regard it as a very serious injustice to the agricultural workers?
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThe answer I have given is quite accurate. I shall be glad of any further information that the hon. Member may have. I do not think anyone will disagree with the contention that to remove a permanently employed agricultural worker to temporary work would not be in his interest.
§ Miss WilkinsonDoes the hon. Gentleman realise the implications of the answer he has just given? It amounts in effect to going back to the days of binding the agricultural serf to the soil?
§ Mr. LipsonIs there any reason why any agricultural worker should be unemployed at the present time?
§ Mr. JenkinsIs it definitely the decision of the Government to confine to the land all agricultural people who are now engaged on the land, and to deny them the opportunity of applying for work on any Government contract?
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydCertainly not. My answer, if the hon. Member will read it, shows that, where suitable industrial workers are unemployed and available, they are encouraged first of all to take up the vacant posts.