§ 8. Mr. Patrick Maitlandasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what arrangements he has with the nationalised industries regarding likely shifts in the demand for labour and the likely incidence of redundancies, for example, due to closure of coal mines; and how many former employees of Douglas Castle Colliery, in the county of Lanark, are now in receipt of State assistance consequent upon this closure.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterNone, Sir, for such matters are the concern of my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour and National Service. I am informed by the National Assistance Board that no recent employees of the colliery in question are in receipt of National Assistance.
§ Mr. MaitlandIs it not the case that a further phase of closure at this colliery is shortly coming and that there will be persons who, due to disturbance and the need to go to work elsewhere, may have reason to claim National Assistance or may in other ways be dependent on State assistance? Will my right hon. Friend keep a wary eye on the matter, as great distress has been caused to some seventy families who have moved and there are another forty or fifty who are likely to move?
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterI understand that redundancy in the colliery is taking place 6 in three phases, two of which have already taken place, with the result, I am glad to say, that we have no recipients of assistance. This is no doubt due, on the one hand, to the very efficient placing activities of my right hon. Friend and, on the other hand, to the operation of the National Coal Board's redundancy scheme.