§ Major CAYZERasked the Minister of Labour the number of persons employed on 1st January, 1919, at the Ministry of Labour and the Employment Exchanges; and the number of persons employed by these two Departments at the present day?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAThe information which my hon. and gallant Friend asks for is contained in the statement and notes which follow. I should like to 2411W remind my hon. and gallant Friend, however, that between the dates referred to, the Ministry of Labour was charged with many additional responsibilities, a number of which are referred to at the end of this reply.
MINISTRY OF LABOUR. Numbers of Staff. — Full-time Part-time Staff. 1 * Total Staff Ministry of Labour. 2 Divisional Offices and Employment Exchanges. 3 Branch Managers. 4 Other part-time staff. 1st January, 1919 12,810 7,654 1,082 939 7th June, 1919 … 25,709 19,082 1,147 1,270 1st July, 1919 … 15,875 8,750 1,117 1,068 * Including items entered in Column 2, but excluding items entered in Columns 3 and 4. (1) This return does not include the industrial staff attached to the instructional factories controlled by the training department of the Ministry of Labour.
(2) The total shown in the second column includes the staff of the Employment Exchanges and of the Divisional Offices, which are the regional offices of the Employment Exchange service in the different districts.
(3) Column 3. Branch managers. Nearly all these are part-time staff, who work in premises provided by themselves, and are paid according to the volume of work done. The majority of the branch managers own private businesses, in addition to undertaking duties for the Department.
(4) Column 4. These figures include cleaners employed by the Department.
(5) The figures shown for the 1st July, 1920, represent a very substantial decrease as compared with the maximum figure which was reached during June, 1919 (25,709, excluding part-time staff), when the volume of work caused by the out-of-work donation during the demobilisation period was at its maximum; this decrease is still continuing.
(6) It should further be noted that between the dates of the 1st January, 1919, and 1st July, 1920, the Ministry was charged with additional responsibilities—apart from the payment of the unemployment donation—the most important of which necessitated the setting up of the following departments:—
2412WIn order that a proper comparison may be made, I have included in the statement the figures for 7th June, 1919, on which date the pressure of work during the demobilisation and re-settlement period reached its maximum.
(a) The training department which was created to provide training facilities for ex-service men;
(b) the military service (civil liabilities) department, which was taken over from the Local Government Board, and whose function is to provide assistance to ex-service men who are unable to meet certain financial obligations without serious hardship;
(c) the Irish department, which was created in order to perform in respect of Ireland the work performed in respect of Great Britain by the various departments of the Ministry in London; and—as a body indepndent of, but paid by the Ministry—the Industrial Court, which was created by the Industrial Courts Act, 1919, for the settlement of trade disputes.