§ Lieut.-Colonel MASONasked the Minister of Health, with regard to the 300 ex-service civil servants of over seven years' Government service who are about to be dismissed from his Ministry, whether there are still many temporary non-service women not under notice whose work could be done by these men; and, if so, in view of the pledge given by Lord Cushendun on 27th July, 1927, whether he will reconsider these dismissals?
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Mr. CHAMBERLAINThere are 108 temporary women clerks employed in my Department upon work of the class described by the Lytton Committee as specially appropriate to women, and, therefore, as ordinarily non-substitutable by men. The answer given by the late Financial Secretary to the Treasury on 27th July, 1927, had reference solely to the displacement of ex-service clerks by successful candidates at the clerical officers' examination held last November, and the latter part of the question, therefore, does not arise.