Disabled Persons, Scotland

HC Deb 22 April 1959 vol 604 cc366-8

11. Miss Herbison

asked the Minister of Labour how many disabled persons who require sheltered employment are registered as unemployed in Scotland.

Mr. Wood

423 on 16th March, 1959.

Miss Herbison

Can the Minister give me any information as to what steps his Department has been taking in order to ensure that these workers can be placed?

Mr. Wood

There are a number of workers in Section 2—those who need sheltered employment—who are already in employment. The figure which I have given to the hon. Lady is very similar to the figure last year, which compares extremely well with the increase in unemployment both among able-bodied and Section 1 disabled. As regards these 423 who are unemployed, 300 of them, I am informed, live in areas that are served by Remploy factories, and the other 100 are in remote parts of Scotland and it will be very difficult to fit them into employment. We are hoping that a number of the 300 who are situated near Remploy factories could be found work if Remploy production was increased.

Miss Herbison

Is it the case, then, that there is a possibility that the existing Remploy factories can provide work for these 300?

Mr. Wood

I do not think they could all be placed in Remploy factories, but there are other workshops, both for the sighted disabled worker and the blind, in Scotland which might be able to absorb a number of the 300 who are within the field.

12. Miss Herbison

asked the Minister of Labour how many persons who have suffered from tuberculosis and are able to work only in sheltered employment are registered as unemployed in Scotland; and if he will make a statement on the provision of a Remploy factory to provide work for these disabled men and women.

Mr. Wood

The answer to the first part of the Question is 27. Remploy's trading position does not yet permit the building of additional factories, but when it does the needs of Scotland will certainly be kept in mind.

Miss Herbison

Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that a very similar reply was given to me by the Minister a number of years ago? Surely, the Minister must be aware that those people who suffer from tuberculosis have very great difficulty indeed in being placed anywhere? Is he aware that it seems to me that, since every Minister on the Government side of the House says how prosperous we now are in this country under the present Government, one of the first things they should have attempted to do was to provide the Remploy factory promised for Scotland a number of years ago?

Mr. Wood

That is true, and the hon. Lady is right in drawing my attention to the statement by my predecessor on this matter. I am glad to be able to tell the hon. Lady that since that statement was made the methods of treatment of tuberculosis have improved so much that in many parts of the country the sheltered workshops which exist for the tuberculous are finding it very difficult to get enough people to fill the space. That being so, I still agree with the hon. Lady that there are a number of tuberculous in Scotland who would like sheltered employment, but I am afraid that I cannot at the moment add to the statement which my predecessor made. I hope that when it is possible for Remploy to expand the needs of the tuberculous in Scotland will be taken into account.