§ 7. Sir I. Fraserasked the Minister of Labour whether, by reference to great war and/or present war figures, he will supply figures showing the relationship between the number of members of the Fighting Forces, members of Civil Defence units, civilian air-raid victims, persons suffering from industrial accidents and persons born with or who acquire diseases or affections which reduce their employability below normal, respectively, so as to enable an estimate to be made of the numbers in these categories who are proposed to be dealt with under the Tomlinson Report Scheme of Compulsory Employment?
§ Mr. E. BevinAs indicated in paragraph 71 (c) and (d) of the Tomlinson Committee Report, it is not possible at present to form even a rough estimate of the number of persons whose employability has been affected by some kind of disablement nor as to their distribution between the groups referred to.
§ Sir I. FraserDoes the right hon. Gentleman appreciate the sincere difficulty in which Members and others find themselves in assessing the practicability of the proposal that all unfit persons should be compulsorily employed, when there is no idea of their number? Could he not find out the number by the process of sampling or in some other way?
§ Mr. BevinI assure my hon. Friend that it is a little difficult to come to a conclusion on figures now. Many men who are partially disabled find employment in war-time, but I am certain that, when the matter has to be analysed and dealt with in the post-war period, with the then conditions of unemployment, it will be entirely different.