HC Deb 05 February 1931 vol 247 c2140W
Sir R. ASKE

asked the Minister of Labour whether she is aware that men residing at Newcastle and other places have recently found it impossible to continue at the West Tofts Training Camp, Brandon, to which they were sent under the Ministry's training scheme, on the ground that the food supplied was uneatable and the accommodation huts were leaking and that inadequate bedding was supplied; whether any inquiry is being or will be instituted into the conditions of this and other training camps; and whether she will take measures to ensure that conditions are made more tolerable?

Miss BONDFIELD

I have inquired into the complaints, and am satisfied that they are wholly unjustified. When the men to whom the hon. Member apparently refers left the centre, they stated that they had no complaint to make against the centre and gave reasons for leaving which did not reflect in any way upon the conditions. I am sending the hon. Member a copy of a report of an independent inquiry into the conditions at this and other centres which was made last year in consequence of complaints similar to those which have now reached the hon. Member.