§ Mr. Hoggasked the Minister of Supply whether he is aware of the serious unemployment at present existing at the Morris motor-car and radiator factories and at the pressed steel factory at Oxford; and what explanation there is of such unemployment, in view of the expressed intention of the Government to utilise all our resources in support of the national war effort?
§ Mr. BurginThe Morris Motor Car factories and the subsidiary organisations feeding them were organised in the main2134W for light-car production until the outbreak of hostilities. Modern methods of flow production call for a special lay-out to deal with the particular product, and before the factories can be used for other purposes it will be necessary to effect complete alteration of this lay-out.
The various organisations controlled by Lord Nuffield have very large Government orders and they are using then-various works on a sub-contracting basis wherever possible. Other arrangements are in hand and all departments of the Ministry are fully aware of the facilities and hope to make use of them increasingly as time proceeds.