HC Deb 24 January 1962 vol 652 cc203-4
34. Mr. Swingler

asked the Minister of Labour what action has been taken by his Department as a result of the surveys of health in industry in Halifax and Stoke-on-Trent.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour (Mr. Alan Green)

The Halifax survey was designed to establish the facts about a typical industrial area. The findings were of general application and subsequent action has included statutory provision for washing facilities, first-aid, and cleanliness in factories, and the publication of guidance to industry on hazards from fumes and dusts; a further booklet will be published shortly on the structural requirements of the Factories Acts. As regards the Pottery survey, I would refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend's answer to the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, South (Mr. Ellis Smith) on 6th December.

Mr. Swingler

While thanking the hon. Gentleman for that reply, may I ask whether it was not clear from both these surveys that it was necessary and desirable now to move forward to the establishment of a comprehensive industrial health service, and that there is now a wide measure of agreement in medical, trade union and employers' circles on this? Could the hon. Gentleman say what his Department is now doing towards establishing it?

Mr. Green

That is quite a different question and does not really arise out of the Question. Perhaps I can tell the hon. Member what I believe he knows—that it is the Government's policy at the moment to encourage the development of medical services in industry on a voluntary basis.

35. Mr. Swingler

asked the Minister of Labour what is the nature of the experimental work in the field of industrial medicine which is being studied in his Department; what further information is required; and what contribution his Department is making toward this work.

Mr. Green

I assume that the hon. Member is referring to the experimental schemes now being planned in Rochdale and Dundee with the assistance of a grant from the Nuffield Foundation to see whether group industrial health schemes can be successfully established in older industrial areas. Our Department is working in close collaboration with the Foundation in helping to further these developments in both towns.

Mr. Swingler

Is the Minister in favour of the establishment of an industrial health service? If so, what further information is required by his Department to devise a scheme to establish a comprehensive industrial medical service in Britain?

Mr. Green

If the hon. Member wishes to put down a Question of that fundamental kind, perhaps he would care to do so. I will repeat that we have collaborated closely both in Dundee and Rochdale in these two experiments and we are learning a lot from them. The Rochdale experiment is quite far advanced.

Sir M. Stoddart-Scott

May I express the hope that my hon. Friend will not agree to the setting up of an industrial health service outside the National Health Service?

Mr. Green

That, of course, is one of the major considerations in our minds.

Mr. Swingler

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that not only the Trades Union Congress but the British Medical Association as well has officially recommended him to establish an industrial health service?