§ 8. Mr. James Griffithsasked the Minister of Labour how many persons now registered as unemployed are partially disabled by industrial accident and disease; and whether he is taking steps to provide facilities for rehabilitation and retaining of these workers?
§ Mr. BevinI have no statistics showing how many persons registered as unemployed are partially disabled by industrial accident or disease. Certain facilities for the training of such persons for new occupations are available under the interim scheme instituted last year. I am sending my hon. Friend a copy of the leaflet on this scheme.
§ Mr. GriffithsIs it the intention of the Minister at any stage to take steps to discover how many such men are in the country, in view of the fact that it may be necessary to use their labour?
§ Mr. BevinI think that the best way would be, if hon. Members know these ceses and think that they are capable of being brought back to useful employment by rehabilitation, that they should, instead of asking me to get a lot of statistics, forward cases to me, and I will look into them very quickly. I think that that is the quickest way of dealing with them.