HC Deb 10 February 1949 vol 461 cc529-30
47. Miss Bacon

asked the Minister of Labour how many Further Education and Training Grants have been allowed under paragraph 5 of his leaflet to men desiring to qualify for a professional career for which their pre-war circumstances did not give them opportunity, but whose war record shows that they have capabilities which would justify the expenditure of public money.

The Minister of Labour (Mr. Isaacs)

I regret that this information is not available, as separate statistics for this class of case are not kept.

Miss Bacon

Would my right hon. Friend look into this matter again because it appears that many men who ought to be awarded a grant under this paragraph are not being awarded one on the ground that their career was not interrupted by war service?

Mr. Isaacs

I understood that the question merely asked for statistical information, and not merit. On the question of information, it would mean the examination of over 230,000 cases, and I am not prepared to undertake that task.

Mr. George Thomas

Would my right hon. Friend give the House some idea of the number of cases in which grants have been made, because there is a widespread feeling among these applicants that the paragraph is, to a large extent, being ignored?

Mr. Isaacs

No, Sir. I think, from what information I have gathered by looking over some of the cases, that many of those that have been rejected were properly rejected, but, certainly, the applicants have been disappointed.

Mr. K. Lindsay

Would my right hon. Friend try to put a more generous interpretation upon this paragraph, because, had that been done, quite a lot of applications would not have been rejected?

Mr. Isaacs

I do not accept for one moment that there has been any ungenerous interpretation of this paragraph. I am satisfied that where leniency can be shown and we can go over the borderline of the system, we do so, and not the contrary.