§ 32. Mr. Dunnasked the Minister of Labour whether he is now in a position to state how many partially-disabled miners and miners suffering with miners nystagmus or other scheduled industrial diseases whose compensation has either been reduced or discontinued are signing on at the Employment Exchanges; how many are receiving benefits, either standard or payments under the Unemployment Assistance Board, to the nearest available date; and why the numbers are increasing?
§ Mr. E. BrownAs I explained in my reply to the hon. Member on 2nd March, the desired statistics are not available. In order to obtain them it would be necessary to make a detailed inquiry of all men on the unemployed register who have ever been employed as miners, and I regret that I cannot see my way to institute such an inquiry.
§ Mr. DunnSurely, as this is an important question, which affects local authorities as well, we ought to have the information?
§ Mr. BrownI pointed out the difficulty to the hon. Member last week, and said, since he pressed the matter, that I would 576 look again. I have looked again, and I cannot see that I ought to ask every man who has ever been employed as a miner to come up for re-examination, which is what this would involve.