§ Mr. Burkeasked the Minister of Labour under which regulation men are being summoned to the Burnley Employment Exchange merely for the purpose of answering questions as to their height and weight; and what is the purpose of these inquiries?
§ Mr. E. Brown,pursuant to his reply (OFFICIAL REPORT, 16th March, 1939; col. 572, Vol. 345) supplied the following statement:
1133WNo men have been summoned to the Burnley Employment Exchange for this purpose. I understand that a clerk who was recently taking particulars at this exchange of applicants for employment asked the majority of them to give their height and weight in order that these might be recorded; he did this because he had found these particulars frequently necessary or useful in filling certain types of vacancies. This procedure is, however, unusual and is liable to give rise to misunderstanding; steps have therefore been taken to confine it to special cases in which knowledge of these particulars is important for the class of vacancies for which the applicant is registered.