§ 32. Mr. Bossomasked the Minister of Labour what is the approximate yearly wastage of operatives in the building trades, in percentage or to the nearest thousand.
§ The Minister of Labour (Mr. Isaacs)I regret that this information is not at present available.
§ Mr. BossomIf the Minister will inquire of the industry, I believe that he will find that it is about 5 per cent., or somewhere about 50,000 a year?
§ Mr. IsaacsI must admit I was not quite sure what the hon. Gentleman was asking. If he means by wastage those who leave by retirement and death, we know that figure. It is 4 per cent. If he means those who leave for all other reasons, it will require a good deal of investigation to provide the figure, but I think that he will find that it is considerably above the 5 per cent. which he has in mind.
§ 33. Mr. Bossomasked the Minister of Labour how many building trade operatives are now being trained to become mechanics in his various educational schemes for the building industry.
§ Mr. IsaacsI assume the hon. Member is referring to training schemes. There are 689 men, including 107 wood-machinists, in training for this industry in the Government training centres and 1,308 doing the second part of the training course in employers' establishments.
§ Mr. BossomThe Minister has just said that about 2,000 people are being trained under his training arrangements for the building industry, and he also said a minute or so ago that something in the nature of 60,000 to 70,000 people are going out of the industry every year. Will he speak to the Minister of Health and explain that the mechanics of the industry come from the small builders, and will he let them get on with the job?
§ Mr. IsaacsI am not sure how these matters are linked together, but, as far as the small number is concerned, that is because the industry said they had trained enough to meet their requirements. The total number trained under this scheme is just over 50,000.