§ 32. Mr. Snowasked the Minister of Health whether he will make a statement on the question of the screening of immigrant labour for tuberculosis, with special reference to those entering the United Kingdom for various work periods from the Republic of Ireland and the Commonwealth.
§ Miss Hornsby-SmithThere is no statutory control over the entry into this country of Commonwealth citizens or citizens of the Irish Republic. My right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour and National Service, when Minister of Health, informed the House in May, 1954, that the Standing Tuberculosis Advisory Committee had advised that tuberculosis in immigrants did not constitute a serious menace to the health of this country. He had therefore decided, in consultation with his right hon. Friends concerned, that the establishment of a health check sufficiently thorough to ensure that tuberculous persons from abroad were denied entry to the United Kingdom would involve the imposition of fresh restrictions quite out of proportion to the danger. I am not aware of any evidence that since that time the position has changed for the worse nor of any reason to modify my right hon. Friend's decision.