§ Mr. JOHNSTONasked the Minister of Labour the numbers of men and women on the live registers of unemployed in Dundee; whether he is aware that under the Boot housing scheme some 400 men are absorbed in industry for every 500 houses authorised; and whether he is prepared to consider any proposal under which, through municipal employment upon urgent public utilities and the absorption in industry of numbers of the unemployed at the Employment Exchange, he would be prepared to share the resultant saving to the Unemployment Fund with the local authority, thus diminishing the cost of such services to the ratepayers as well as causing large savings to the Unemployment Fund?
§ Mr. BETTERTONThe numbers of men and women on the unemployed live register of the Dundee Employment Exchange were 5,639 and 3,558 respectively at 1st November, 1926. I have no means of checking the figures given in the second part of the question, but I understand that a considerable proportion of the work under the scheme referred to can be carried out by unskilled or semiskilled labour. As regards the last part of the question, I have no power under the Unemployment Insurance Acts to use any portion of the Unemployment Fund in the manner suggested, and I would point out further that houses erected under the "Boot" system, provided they comply with the conditions laid down under the Act, would be eligible for a subsidy from public funds on the same terms as those applicable to other systems.