§ Major Ralph Beaumontasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he is aware that there has been a considerable increase in the allocation of work in Portsmouth dockyard to outside contractors; and why much of this work could not be performed by labour working under the direction of the existing supervisory staff in the dockyard?
Mr. AlexanderThe work allocated to contractors is of an urgent nature and of a kind requiring unskilled labour. The necessary amount of this labour is not available in the dockyard and cannot be procured at the present time.
§ Major Ralph Beaumontasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he is aware that a number of skilled craftsmen are being employed on clerical duties in Portsmouth dockyard; and whether the services of these men could be more profitably utilised in their respective trades and the clerical duties performed by clerks?
Mr. AlexanderThere are certain duties carried out in H.M. Dockyards, such as those performed by estimators, foremen's writers and recorders of work, which, although of a clerical nature, require 311W technical knowledge for their efficient performance. This work, which could not be performed by clerks, requires, in general, the employment of skilled mechanics, but non-mechanics have been substituted where possible in order to release the fully skilled workmen. The numbers employed on these duties are, in any case, extremely small.