§ Mr. D. G. SOMERVILLEasked the Minister of Health whether, in view of the unemployment prevalent among ex- 1182W persons employed and unemployed, respectively, in the building trade, on public works, and in trades ancillary to the building trade compare with such numbers at a similar period in 1931?
§ Sir H. BETTERTONThe following table gives the estimated numbers of insured persons in the building, public works contracting and allied industries at July, 1931, the latest date for which such figures are at present available, and the numbers recorded as unemployed in September, 1931, and September, 1932. Statistics are not available as to the numbers in employment in these industries at the latter dates.
service men, arrangements can be made for them to be employed as inspectors checking National Health Insurance cards in place of women?
Sir H. YOUNGThe enforcement of compliance with the National Health Insurance Acts is only one of many duties assigned to the Insurance inspectorate. These duties can only be performed by a trained and experienced staff, and I regret that it would not be possible to adopt my hon. Friend's suggestion. I may add that there are 2,826 ex-service men serving in my Department, the majority of whom were recruited because they were ex-service men.