§ Sir J. LEIGHasked the Minister of Health what steps, if any, are taken to provide ex-service men, who have received instructional training under the scheme formulated by the Government, with employment at the conclusion of their training; and whether many of these trained men have been prevented from obtaining employment owing to restrictions imposed by trade unions and to the fact that trade unionists refuse to work with them notwithstanding the undertaking given to the Government before the scheme was put into force?
§ Mr. BETTERTONThe steps taken to obtain employment for disabled ex-service men who have received training are to canvass employers, to advertise for vacancies, and to stimulate public opinion by holding meetings and in other ways. Trainees enter the workshops of employers under arrangements by which the State pays a diminishing and the employer an increasing proportion of the trainee's remuneration. On the cessa-292W tion of the State payments, the employer pays an increasing proportion of the district rate. At the conclusion of training the trainee is accepted by the trade union as a fully skilled man. In some districts certain trade unions have objected to trainees being employed in preference to unemployed skilled men, but in general the trade unions have co-operated whole-heartedly in the scheme and we have no evidence that many trainees are prevented from obtaining employment owing to trade union opposition.