HC Deb 09 October 1941 vol 374 cc1091-2
7. Sir Henry Morris-Jones

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware of the serious shortage of women for domestic service in Colwyn Bay; that many young women are leaving domestic service to serve in offices in the town; whether they are then in a reserved occupation; and what steps he is taking, in view of the increasing difficulties of many households with aged and invalid alone, to look after the persons billeted on them?

Mr. Bevin

The shortage of domestic servants is not confined to Colwyn Bay, and, in view of the great and increasing demands on woman labour, must be accepted as unavoidable. The question whether a woman who has changed her job to an office in the town, would be called for selection interview under the Registration for Employment Order, to which I assume my hon. Friend refers in the third part of his Question, would depend on the nature of the occupation and whether it had been entered into after registration.

Sir H. Morris-Jones

Will the Minister see that the Ministry of Food, at all events, do not compete to get domestic servants away from the very houses in which they are supposed to look after civil servants? Will he bear in mind that civilian life has to go on in this town as well as in other towns and that aged and infirm people cannot look after civil servants?

Mr. Bevin

I can assure the hon. Member that we are taking very great care over the question of domestic servants. On the other hand, the experiment of doing a little domestic work by the families themselves might have a good effect.

Miss Eleanor Rathbone

Is the Minister aware that there is a very grave shortage of women with domestic experience in the A.T.S. and that perhaps the A.T.S. has the greatest claim on domestic workers who can be released from their present employment?

Mr. Bevin

There is a shortage of this type of experienced person in all the Services, but I do not want it to be assumed that the main shortage in the A.T.S. is in this category. I have tried to the best of my ability to use lower grade categories for kitchen and domestic work in the Army, and in many cases I would prefer a grade 3 person to be an orderly in a kitchen in the Army rather than to have a grade A.1 woman put there when she could be better employed in a factory.