§ Mr. GRIFFITHSasked the Minister of Labour what proportions of his women temporary employés contribute to the support of others; whether he is aware that the majority of these have to look after elderly parents who require personal attention after office hours; and that the substitution committee of many Departments have found that this is the case with a high proportion of those women hitherto exempted from substitution on the groud of hardship, but who have been recently or are about to be demobilised on account of shrinkage of work; and whether he appreciates the fact that the necessity for looking after aged parents renders resident employment undesirable for such women, and the consequent necessity, if they are not to draw for long unemployment benefit, for providing them with commercial and other trainings to compensate them for the loss of commercial experience which they might have gained had it not been that they gave up several years to the service of the State during the War?
§ Mr. BETTERTONApart from the Claims and Record Office at Kew, I have no detailed information as to what proportion of the temporary women employés of the Ministry (1,799 in all, excluding cleaners and women staff employed in industrial establishments) contribute to the support of others. Of the 430 women at present temporarily employed at Kew, 163 have been found, in the course of the recent investigation at that office, so to contribute, and there is no present intention of discharging any of these women. I have no information as to the results of inquiries by the various Departmental Substitution Committees as to the personal circumstances of the women temporarily employed in those Departments. I am afraid the prospect of employment for additional women in commercial work at the present time is not such as to justify us in incurring the expense of training new entrants.