§ 34. Mr. Palmerasked the Minister of Labour if he is aware that a list of vacant posts for scientific and technical workers circulated by his Department included several advertisements which stated that no aliens or Jews were required; and whether he will take steps to ensure that no advertisements involving racial discrimination are in future approved by his Department.
§ Mr. IsaacsSome vacancies containing a certain stipulation were notified to my Department whose duty it is to submit the type of applicant likely to be acceptable to an employer. In this case the list of vacancies with the stipulation was circulated internally in my Department and was also made available to an association of workpeople, but no question of the approval of an advertisement arose.
§ Mr. PalmerWill the right hon. Gentleman agree that it is a disgraceful business that these advertisements should be backed apparently by a Government Department?
§ Mr. IsaacsI do agree that the backing of a Government Department ought not to be given to advertisements of this character and I am very much concerned about it. What happened was this. This firm asked for persons within the classification and we passed it to one of our departments and to the association concerned with that class of workers. The information got out in that way. I personally regret it, and if I had seen it before it was published I would have prohibited it.
§ Mr. Sydney SilvermanWill the right hon. Gentleman undertake that in future his Department will not circulate applications for persons which contain such a racial discrimination and which are against the public policy of this country?
§ Mr. IsaacsThat is certainly what I intended to say.
§ Mr. PiratinWill the Minister consult with his colleague the Home Secretary in order to ensure that legislation is passed to prohibit such cases of racial discrimination?