§ 37. Sir Robert Youngasked the Home Secretary whether he will make a statement regarding the productive work done, for war purposes, by members of the fire brigades at the fire stations and stating the nature of the work, its amount and the payment made for such work, and how it is distributed?
§ Mr. H. MorrisonThe general arrangements made for this purpose are embodied in a detailed Instruction of which I am sending my hon. Friend a copy. It has been found in practice that, in view of the demands upon machinery and supervisory staff, the need to secure the most economic use of materials and transport, the comparatively small units in which the personnel of the National Fire Service is dis- 604 tributed and the extent to which the Service is now engaged on essential constructional work for its own purposes, the field of opportunity for schemes of productive work is necessarily limited. A certain amount of useful work such as boxmaking, the assembly of small components and camouflage netting has, however, been undertaken almost entirely in London, and at a recent date work was being done in 83 separate fire stations to the value of about £550 a week. Both figures are rising.
§ Sir R. YoungCan the right hon. Gentleman tell me whether the document will contain the conditions of payment and whether they are based on the regular wages paid to those who do that sort of work?
§ Mr. MorrisonNo, Sir. These men are, of course, already paid full-time for their employment as members of the Fire Service. What we have arranged is that the price paid to the Service by the contractor is the price that would be paid commercially to a sub-contractor, so that there is no undercutting the market. The net proceeds are divided between the collective benefit of the National Fire Service personnel and the Exchequer.