HC Deb 05 August 1943 vol 391 c2461
65. Mr. Lindsay

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power how many new courses of training have been established for new entrants to the mining industry?

Mr. T. Smith

The instructions issued by the Ministry are that new juvenile entrants as well as men who choose underground mining employment as an alternative to service in His Majesty's Forces must undergo training on the surface arid underground. The training arrangements have so far been based as an obligation on the individual mine or undertaking, and they vary so much in their stage of development and even in their character that it is hardly possible to express the present position statistically.

Mr. Lindsay

Will my hon. Friend expedite these training courses during the Recess, because it will materially help?

Mr. Smith

They are being expedited as much as possible at the present time, and my hon. Friend can take it that if there is anything that we can do to get these training schemes going we certainly will do it.