Mr. Whiteasked the Minister of Labour whether he can make any statement with regard to the progress made by the appointments offices since their establishment?
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§ Mr. BevinThe new appointments offices have made a good start during their first ten months' work. They have placed some 8,000 men and some 3,000 women in appropriate war-time employment of the special types with which they deal. They have found many substitutes for men called up and they have put forward to the Fighting Services a very substantial number of men qualified to receive technical commissions. The appointments offices have also done a great deal of useful work in placing women university graduates and in supplying women and girls possessing special qualifications for responsible work in the munitions industries and in the Women's Auxiliary Services. Important new responsibilities connected with the recruitment of technical officers for the Fighting Services and with the employment of nurses are about to be placed upon these offices.