§ Mr. KELLYasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, as representing the First Commissioner of Works whether immediate steps will be taken to provide more suitable office accommodation for the staff of His Majesty's inspector of taxes, Accrington, at the post office buildings in Abbey Street, where they are in close proximity to the automatic telephone exchange where three large dynamos are working directly opposite the door of the general office, the intermittent hum of which is irritating and distracting, particularly to those members of the staff who at this period of the year are engaged on the duty of summarising assessments, calling for the closest possible concentration?
§ Captain HACKINGThe answer is in the negative. The First Commissioner is advised that this complaint is quite unjustified, and the offices in question are suitable for their purpose and the noise from the dynamos is almost imperceptible.
§ Mr. PETHICK-LAWRENCEasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, whether it has been brought to his notice that the accommodation provided for the Newark tax district was made the subject of special representations by the deputation from the Trades Union Congress General Council last June; and if he will explain the reason why, in these circumstances, the retention of the lease until 1928 was sanctioned?
§ Captain HACKINGThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative; arrangements had, however, been made in 1924 to retain these premises, which are considered to be reasonably satisfactory, until 1928.
§ Mr. TAYLORasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department as representing the First Commissioner of Works whether steps will be taken to improve the conditions in the office of His Majesty's inspector of taxes, first district, Peterborough, where four members of the staff are working in a room containing a very small fireplace, five doors, and three windows looking out into a well, and where the amount of natural light thrown into the room, even with the aid of reflectors, is so poor that electric light is burned all day during the winter months; whether he is aware that the 1979W fumes given off by the gas radiator are so bad that the staff are frequently obliged to work without any heating whatever; and whether some provision will be made for the storage of cycles, which are used by seven members of the staff and which are at present entirely unprotected from theft?
§ Captain HACKINGInvestigation is being made into the conditions obtaining in this building, and I will communicate further with the hon. Member in due course.
§ Mr. BUCHANANasked the Undersecretary of State for the Home Department, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, whether it is proposed to take early steps to ensure that more suitable accommodation is found for the Grimsby first and second tax offices than the present premises in Cleethorpe Road, where discomfort is caused by the smells arising from the close proximity of the office to the fish docks and certain curing houses, and which immediately adjoin the sidings of the London and North Eastern Railway, where shunting is always in progress?
§ Captain HACKINGThe First Commissioner is advised that the conditions as regards the smell of fish prevailing at this office, which has been occupied by Government staffs since 1889, are not worse than at any centrally situated building in Grimsby. The premises are considered suitable for retention, but owing to recent increases in the staff it is proposed to rehouse one of the districts elsewhere.
§ Sir W. de FRECEasked the Undersecretary of State for the Home Department, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, whether he is aware that the heating arrangements for the public office in the Blackpool first tax district are inadequate and that the furnace is damped down at 3 o'clock each day and entirely during the week-end, with the result that during the early part of the week and after 4 o'clock each afternoon the office is bitterly cold; that temperature readings taken at 9 a.m., 12 noon, and 5 p.m. on each of the last seven working days vary from 46 degrees to 56 degrees; that a complaint was forwarded to the Office of Works on the 8th instant, but no steps appear to have been taken 1980W to remedy the existing conditions; and whether, as local representations have failed to produce any result, he will give instructions for adequate heating arrangements to be installed without delay?
§ Captain HACKINGThe complaints made about the heating arrangements at this office are at present the subject of investigation. The landlords who are responsible for the provision of adequate heating to the portion of the building occupied by the tax office have called in their engineers with a view to improving the conditions. They state, however, that the furnace is fully charged between 5 and 6 p.m. each evening and damped down on Saturdays and re-lighted on Sunday evenings.
Sir F. HALLasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, whether early steps can be taken to improve the accommodation provided for the staff of the Norwood tax district, as it is at present overcrowded, badly ventilated, ill-lighted, and insanitary; whether he is aware that the house is very old and in such a bad state of repair that any movement of furniture occasions a fall of plaster in the room below; and whether, in view of the fact that a similar house in the same road having recently collapsed the staff feel a sense of insecurity, he will take action forthwith in the matter?
§ Captain HACKINGNegotiations are in progress with a view to the provision of additional accommodation for this office, including additional sanitary facilities. The First Commissioner is advised that there is no danger of the collapse of the structure.