§ Mr. GROVESasked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that the West Ham Guardians assist in carrying on the Ockenden farm colony, which was established under the old distress committees, and to which relieving officers relegate men whom they consider work shy; whether he is aware that this state of affairs is causing grave concern in the union area, as, with the present state of industrial depression, the mere fact that a man has been unemployed for a long period is no proof that he is unwilling to work; and whether it is upon the instructions of his Department that this procedure is maintained?
§ Mr. WHEATLEYI am aware of the arrangement under which able-bodied men in receipt of relief may be sent to Ockenden for periods of one month. The cases are selected by the guardians themselves and not, as my hon. Friend suggests, by their officers, and are chosen on a variety of grounds of which the advisability of applying a work test is only one. I have no information which would suggest that the arrangement has had undesirable results.