§ 69. Mr. A. Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Air whether he is aware that there is an unemployment problem among the ship-repair workers in the Port of London, and that the London District Committee of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions, representing all the ship-repair workers in the Port of London, is anxious for the work in connection with the conversion of the four frigates into weather ships to be carried out in the Port of London; and whether he will give the necessary instructions for this to be done.
Mr. WardThe first of the four frigates has already been converted and went into service last year.
Of the Port of London firms invited to tender for the remaining three conversions, only one submitted a tender, which was unsuccessful. The successful firm 134W is in an area where unemployment in the ship-repairing industry has recently been higher than in London.