§ 23. Mr. Farrasked the Minister of Labour if he will take steps to provide that those employees who seek other employment in advance of their being made redundant shall be entitled to the benefits of the resettlement scheme.
§ The Minister of Labour (Mr. J. B. GodberWorkers who are in employment but are due to become redundant 22 shortly may be considered for assistance under the Resettlement Scheme if they obtain other work away from home.
§ Mr. FarrI am delighted to hear that from my right hon. Friend, but is he aware that I have been in correspondence with his hon. Friend about a case in my constituency of a man who showed a lot of initiative in getting a job before he was overtaken by events but whose proper claims for expenses in this connection were turned down because he had not waited until he had been declared redundant?
§ Mr. GodberI have looked at this case, and I have to tell my hon. Friend that the position, as I understand it, is that this particular employee was not likely to have become redundant. One has to look at these matters very carefully to see what can be done to help in the case of any redundancies or expected redundancies, but, if we widen the scheme too much, it will not succeed.
§ Mr. John PageWill my right hon. Friend consider giving more publicity to explain to people how they can qualify for this most useful scheme? My impression is that, in general, people know very little about it.
§ Mr. GodberI should be very glad to do anything I can to publicise it more. We publish booklets about it, and I should be very happy to give further publicity anywhere I can. One has to do all one can to facilitate genuine movement, but, of course, in some parts of the country there are those who feel that it would be wrong to do too much in this way because it would have the effect of denuding a part of the country of some of its best workers.