§ Mr. Granvilleasked the Minister of Labour, (1) under what authority his Department has set up a chemical ring fence in that industry; why this has been done, and whether such an arrangement grants powers of monopoly in manpower and prevents the transfer of any unskilled labour to other industries engaged equally in the war effort;
(2) under what order or arrangement a National Service officer is precluded from transferring an employee from within to a works outside of the chemical ring fence.
§ Mr. E. BevinIn conjunction with my right hon. Friend the Minister of Supply, I introduced a special scheme for regulating the use of labour in the chemical industry in July, 1941. It is based on my general powers under the Defence Regulations. It works through the normal machinery of my Department, supplemented in each Region by Labour Supply (Chemical Industry) Committees, which contain representatives of employers and trade unions and which are assisted by technically qualified Labour Supply Inspectors. The objects of the scheme are to maintain the trained labour force of the industry, to ensure that the available manpower in the industry is used to the best effect within it, and so to reduce to a minimum the industry's demands on the common pool of labour. Consequently, workpeople already in the industry are normally retained in it, but transfers out of it for various reasons such as health, hardship or the nonexistence of local vacancies for immobile workers have never been precluded.