§ Lieut.-Colonel HILDERasked the Minister of Labour whether, in regard to 1128W the statistics of vacancies filled by the Employment Exchanges, there is any means of ascertaining, without an inquiry involving too much expense, how many of these vacancies are filled as a direct result of the Employment Exchange system; how many represent merely book entries of people who are required to pass through the Employment Exchange as a condition of obtaining temporary employment in public departments or other forms of employment; and, if so, will he acquaint the House with the result?
§ Sir M. BARLOWThe statistics of vacancies filled by Employment Exchanges do not include any vacancies which are merely book entries or are filled otherwise than as a direct result of the Employment Exchange system. Temporary posts in Government Departments are filled by the Joint Substitution Board set up by the Treasury and the Ministry of Labour. In recruiting applications the Board makes full use of the Employment Exchanges and the local offices of the Appointments Department. In addition the Ministry of Transport and the Unemployment Grants Committee under Lord St. Davids, in approving applications by local authorities for arterial road and other schemes, require local authorities to engage labour through the Exchanges, thus securing, among other things, that preference is given to ex-service men.