HC Deb 17 October 1940 vol 365 cc815-6
3. Mr. Mander

asked the Minister of Labour the progress made with his International Labour Scheme; the numbers enrolled and placed in employment up to date; and to what extent contact has been made with internees in the camps?

Mr. Bevin

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply which was given yesterday to the hon. Member for East Birkenhead (Mr. Graham White). I am obtaining the statistics for which he asks, and will send them to him. Internees in camps are not within the scope of the International Labour Branch.

Mr. Mander

Would it not be very useful to associate this scheme with an attempt to find out exactly what skill there is among the internees inside these camps?

Mr. Bevin

I am entirely opposed to duplication in matters of Governmental administration. The question of the camps has been decided by this House, and the authority has been reposed in the Minister of Home Security. When he decides that a person, on grounds of skill and safety, can be released, it is my duty from that moment to take him on in employment.

Mr. White

Has not the right hon. Gentleman taken over the aliens' section of the Central Register, on which there is a large number of individuals who are interned?

Mr. Bevin

I have always been responsible for the aliens on the Register, but anything I do with an alien who is registered is dependent upon the decision of the Home Department that it is safe to employ him.