HC Deb 05 July 1949 vol 466 cc1939-41
11. Mr. Gallacher

asked the Minister of Labour what steps he is taking to increase the manpower in the pits.

Mr. Isaacs

Coalmining continues to have first call on all available manpower, and my officers are instructed to offer employment therein to all suitable unemployed men.

Mr. Gallacher

Is the Minister aware that a prominent member of the Scottish Coal Board has said that to achieve efficiency in the coal mining industry it will be necessary to get rid of 60,000 workers? Would the Minister approve of that statement or repudiate it, in view of the necessity for workers in the coal industry?

Mr. Isaacs

First I would like to see the statement and, secondly, I would like to know who made it. As far as the call-up is concerned, the House may be interested to know that out of 29,434 persons recruited in the first 24 weeks of this year, 12,561 were adults who had not previously worked in the mines.

Mr. Gallacher

If I send the Minister the name of the official, and the actual statement, will he see that it is repudiated?

Mr. Isaacs

No, Sir. I will see that it is looked at, and I shall want to weigh it up.

Sir John Mellor

Is not the Control of Engagement Order a deterrent to recruitment?

Mr. Isaacs

No, I do not think so at the moment.

19. Colonel Clarke

asked the Minister of Labour why, in view of the decline in the number of men entering the coal mining industry during the last two months, the scheme for getting foreign workers into the industry has now been closed.

Mr. Isaacs

I understand from the National Coal Board that the industry could not at the moment readily assimilate any additional foreign workers. Some 17,000 have already been taken into the mines.

Colonel Clarke

As it is known that there are foreign workers available who could be trained and as there is a shortage of workers, to which the Minister has just referred in answer to another Question, cannot this policy be reversed, or is there some reason for not doing so?

Mr. Isaacs

No, Sir. It is purely a question of what might be called the internal industrial machinery. There is no objection to taking these men. It is a question of taking them when openings become available for them.

Mr. McCorquodale

Does the Minister mean that the scheme might be re-opened at some future date if the necessity arose?

Mr. Isaacs

There is that possibility, but at the moment we have not contemplated restarting recruitment overseas. It is quite likely that with the ebb and flow of different industries in this country foreign workers may become redundant in some industries and become available for mining.

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

Will the right hon. Gentleman make it clear that it is still the policy of his Department to increase the manpower available generally in the mines?

Mr. Isaacs

Yes, Sir, in accordance with whatever may be the requirements of the Coal Board.