§ 17. Mr. Ashtonasked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will 1250 state the percentage increase in expenditure of cleaning the offices of his Department since July 1963.
§ Mr. Chichester-ClarkThe information requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. AshtonWhy does the hon. Gentleman always give that answer when he is asked about the statistics of lady office cleaners in his Department or any other? Is he aware that there is a growing feeling that the way in which these ladies are employed by contractors as sweated labour is a national disgrace'? Will he set up a committee of inquiry to discover the statistics and to prove once and for all that the Government have made great savings by employing ladies at low wages and by taking advantage of contractors who now supply the labour instead of these ladies being directly employed?
§ Mr. Chichester-ClarkI am afraid that I cannot answer the hon. Gentleman's question in full. The difficulty is that the records for 1963 and 1964 of salary payments made were unfortunately destroyed in October 1965 by the Labour administration. In any event the hon. Gentleman is misguided if he believes that this is wrong and seeks to blame the present administration for the movement towards contract cleaning. It was the Labour administration again, following devaluation in 1968, which effectively converted the bulk of cleaning of Government offices to a contract basis. One-third of the total area of Government offices was cleaned under contract in 1967 and two-thirds in October 1970. As for an inquiry, it is for my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer to decide whether an inquiry into the Fair Wages Resolution would be appropriate.