HC Deb 22 June 1965 vol 714 cc1466-7
Q3. Mr. Robert Cooke

asked the Prime Minister what are the duties of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour.

The Prime Minister

My right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour is assisted by two Parliamentary Secretaries. My hon. Friend the Member for Greenwich (Mr. Marsh) has a special responsibility for industrial training and his other duties include matters relating to general employment and disabled persons. I have also asked him to assist my right hon. Friend the Minister of Technology with Parliamentary business in this House. The duties of my hon. Friend the Member for Farnworth (Mr. Thornton) cover the rest of the Ministry of Labour's work, including industrial relations, the Factories Act and related legislation, and women's employment.

Mr. Cooke

Is not the hon. Member for Greenwich (Mr. Marsh) more or less full-time employed in the Ministry of Technology? Would it not be much better if he were switched to that Ministry, as the right hon. Gentleman the Minister of Technology finds Parliamentary business so distasteful?

The Prime Minister

The hon. Gentleman must get over this little obsession of his. I am sure that when he comes to consider this matter he will realise that in the whole question of technological development and the automative revolution there is nothing more important than that technical developments should be related to human factors and that the relationship of those developments to training and training facilities is fundamental if we are to avoid disaster. It is therefore extremely useful that there should be a member of the Ministry of Labour staff having this very close link with technology.

Mr. Rhodes

Is my right hon. Friend aware that his confirmation that the hon. Member for Greenwich (Mr. Marsh) has special responsibility for industrial training will be widely welcomed in the North-East? Is he aware that his hon. Friend's recent visit to that area has been described to me by local industrialists as extremely useful? The hon. Member for Bristol, West (Mr. Robert Cooke) may not appreciate this, but we in the North-East do.

Mr. Godber

In view of the Prime Minister's statement that the hon. Member for Greenwich (Mr. Marsh) is primarily concerned with industrial training, will the right hon. Gentleman explain why it is that while in the last six months of the previous Government a Central Training Council and four industrial training boards were set up, since then only one additional board has been established?

The Prime Minister

In the thirteenth year of the last Government they began to do something. In the first month of this Government my hon. Friend was able to devote himself to this problem almost full time. A great deal of progress has been made and I am surprised that the right hon. Member for Grantham (Mr. Godber) is not aware of it. There have been a number of important announcements on that subject from the Ministry today.