HC Deb 16 April 1913 vol 51 cc1957-60W
Mr. POINTER

asked the President of the Board of Education the number of adults serving in a civil capacity in his Department; the grades and numbers of persons so employed who receive less than 30s. per week or £78 per annum; and the number whose normal working day exceeds eight hours?

Mr. PEASE

The number of adults serving in a civil capacity in my Department is 2,016; 527 of these receive less than 30s. per week or £78 per annum, but this number includes 284 who are on scales of salary rising beyond the figure named by the hon. Member. I submit the following particulars:—

General Staff:—
Second division clerks 44*
Assistant clerks 143*
Woman clerks (permanent) 6*
"" (temporary) 18
Woman typists (permanent) 49*
" " (temporary) 1
Messengers (second class) 3*
" (third class) 13*
" (temporary) 23
Ex-police constable attendant 1
Packers 2
Cleaners 12
Porters 6
Charwomen 40
Victoria and Albert Museum:—
Temporary cataloguer 1
Attendants (second class) 14*
" (temporary) 5
" (catalogue stalls) 3*
Doorkeepers 19
Warder cleaners 62
Lavatory cleaners (men) 3
Housekeeper 1*
Seamstresses 2
Lavatory cleaners (women) 7
Charwomen 9†
Royal College of Art:—
Cleaners 2
Charwomen 5†
Geological Survey and Museum:—
Fossil collector 1*
General assistant 1*
Draughtsmen 5
Attendants (second class) 2*
Charwomen 6†
Science Museum:—
Attendants (second class) 6*
Attendants (ex-police constable) 2
Commissionaires 7
Cleaner 1
Charwomen 2†
527
* On scales of salary rising beyond 30s. per week or £78 per annum.
† Part-time employé.

The number of adults who are required by their conditions of service to work more than eight hours a day is 250. It must not, however, be assumed that the remainder of the staff normally work for less than eight hours a day, as pressure of work in the Department frequently necessitates the attendance of members both of the indoor and of the outdoor staff for considerably longer hours.

Mr. POINTER

asked the President of the Local Government Board if he will state the number of adults serving in a civil capacity in his Department; the grades and numbers of persons so employed who receive less than 30s. per week or £78 per annum; and the number whose normal working day exceeds eight hours?

Mr. BURNS

submitted the following statement showing (1) the number of adults serving in a civil capacity in the Local Government Board (England), and (2) the grades and numbers of persons so employed who receive less than 30s. per week or £78 per annum:—

Number of Adults serving in a civil capacity. (1) Persons so employed who receive less than 30s. per week or £78 per annum. (2)
Grade. Number.
870 Second Division Clerk 14
Second Division Clerk (temporary) 14
Assistant Clerk 72
Female Shorthand Writer Typist 7
Female Typist 17
Female Typist (temporary) 2
Clerk to General Inspector 1
Hall Porter 2*
Pensioner Messenger 6†
Goods Lift Attendant 1
Man Cleaner and Coal Porter 7
Superintendent of Charwomen 1
Deputy-Superintendent of Charwomen 2
Charwomen 29
Calf Attendant (Government Lymph Establishment) 4
Total 179
* The Hall Porters receive pensions from Navy Votes.
† The Pensioner Messengers receive pensions from Army Votes.

In the foregoing table the term "adult" includes all persons employed other than those classed as boys. Of the total number, 179, given above, 108 are on scales of salary rising above £78 a year. The normal working hours of the persons indicated in column (2) do not exceed eight per day, with the exception of two hall porters, the senior cleaner and coal porter, and the calf attendants.

Mr. POINTER

asked the President of the Board of Agriculture the number of adults serving in a civil capacity in his Department; the grades and numbers of persons so employed who receive less than 30s. per week or £78 per annum; and the number whose normal working day exceeds eight hours?

Mr. RUNCIMAN

There are 444 adults in the service of the Board. Salaries less than 30s. a week, or £78 a year, are paid to fourteen second division clerks, forty-two assistant clerks, four (women) shorthand-writer typists, nine women typists, one second class messenger, eight pensioner messengers, one laboratory assistant, three laboratory attendants, one porter, and one caretaker; but in the great majority of these cases the salaries will rise in due course above the figure named. Besides myself, only two private secretaries and my personal clerk normally work more than eight hours a day, but in times of pressure, which are very frequent, officers of all grades work considerably more than eight hours a day, and I am glad to have this opportunity of acknowledging publicly the willingness and devotion to duty shown by these officers in such times of stress, as, for example, during the epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease last year.

Mr. POINTER

asked the Postmaster-General the number of adults serving in a civil capacity in his Department; the grades and number of persons so employed who receive less than 30s. per week or £78 per annum; and the number whose normal working day exceeds eight hours?

Mr. HERBERT SAMUEL

I regret that the information desired by the hon. Member could not be ascertained without considerable expenditure of time and money. The total number of persons (not all adults) employed by the Post Office is about 233,000. Certain particulars are given at page 35 of my Report on the Post Office for the year 1911–12, and fuller details in the Estimates for Revenue Departments for the year ending 31st March, 1914, pages 58–77, and in the Supplement thereto relating to the Post Office, pages 56–58. The weekly hours of attendance of the great majority of postal servants are forty-eight by day or forty-two by night, but certain unestablished classes give more extended attendance ranging up to fifty-four a week. These hours include reliefs for meals.