HC Deb 02 November 1939 vol 352 cc2113-4W
Major Carver

asked the Minister of Agriculture the number of women land-workers who have volunteered to serve and who have been offered employment; and what steps he is taking to popularise their employment?

Sir R. Dorman-Smith

Over 30,000 women have volunteered for service on the land during the war, and about 24,000 of these are now enrolled in the Women's Land Army. Nine hundred were placed in employment during the month of September and it is estimated that this number has since been doubled. Women's Land Army county committees, in close co-operation with the National Farmers' Union, the War Agricultural Executive Committees, the principals of training centres and local employment offices of the Ministry of Labour, have been active in drawing the attention of farmers to the fact that women land-workers are available in any district where there is a shortage of agricultural labour.