§ 48. Mr. Osborneasked the Minister of Agriculture if he is aware that 500 men who were unemployed were put on the pay-bill of the Norfolk County Agricultural Committee and were kept on nonproductive work; what was the nature of 47W this work; and to what extent other county agricultural committees have followed this practice.
Mr. T. WilliamsI assume that the hon. Member has in mind the 500 agricultural workers recruited in the winter of 1947–48, to whom reference is made in the eleventh report from the Select Committee on Estimates. These men were not merely taken on the pay-roll. They were employed, as far as weather and other conditions permitted, on general farm work, including sugar-beet lifting, and on land drainage and the removal of defence works. As regards the last part of the Question, it is estimated that about 900 regular agricultural workers were similarly employed elsewhere during parts of that winter.
§ 52. Mr. Osborneasked the Minister of Agriculture what steps he is taking to reduce the charge on public funds incurred on the housing of agricultural workers in hostels and their free transport to and from their work and the payment of their wages regardless of the efficiency of the workers concerned.
Mr. T. WilliamsAs regards hostels. I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 10th November to the hon. Member for The High Peak (Mr. Molson). Transport expenditure will be reduced as the number of pool workers diminishes; transport arrangements are under continual review. As to the last part of the Question, agricultural workers employed by C.A.E.C.'s are, of course, paid at not less than the statutory minimum rates, and committees have taken active steps to ensure that only suitable workers are retained.