§ 20. Mr. Wolrige-Gordonasked the Minister of Labour if he will introduce an industrial rehabilitation unit for retraining accident victims to the north-east of Scotland; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. ThorntonThis has been carefully considered, but I find that the number of people from the north-east of Scotland requiring industrial rehabilitation is insufficient to justify a unit there. 9 They can and do go to the unit at Grantor, near Edinburgh, which has a residential hostel attached, and can usually arrange early admission for accident victims.
§ Mr. Wolrige-GordonIs the Parliamentary Secretary aware that it is due to the policy of the previous Government that the north-east of Scotland is well on the way to becoming an important industrial centre? Is he aware that the present unit of rehabilitation for men disabled through injury is a long distance from the area, which means that a number of the men concerned do not have a chance to travel the necessary distance to take advantage of the scheme? Is he, therefore, aware of the very real need to reconsider this matter and to establish a unit of this kind in the north-east of Scotland?
§ Mr. ThorntonAll our experience shows that only a small proportion of people discharged from hospital, whether near or far from the I.R.U., are both willing and suitable for a course of industrial rehabilitation.