HC Deb 27 June 1940 vol 362 cc603-4W
Mr. Lindsay

asked the Minister of Labour how many welfare officers he proposes to appoint; for what areas; and on what basis of selection?

Mr. Bevin

As part of the organisation, which includes the factory inspectorate for promoting the welfare of factory workers, it is proposed to appoint a number of special welfare officers to deal more particularly with welfare arrangements outside the factories, and I assume that my hon. Friend refers to these. There would be a divisional welfare officer for each of the 11 divisions of the country, one of which is Scotland, and a number of local welfare officers, probably about 20 in the first instance. They are being selected from persons on the Central Register and others who appearprima facie to have appropriate qualifications rendering them suitable for consideration.

Mr. Stokes

asked the Minister of Labour the name of the official in his Department responsible for the co-ordination of welding instruction in the 16 centres for Government training, together with his welding qualifications for that post?

Mr. Bevin

The number of places devoted to welding in the Government training centres is small in comparison with the number devoted to certain other trades, such as fitting and machine operating, and there is no one officer solely responsible for this training. Welding instruction is given by fully qualified instructors working under the direction of the higher technical staff at the centres. These in turn are under the general supervision of the technical inspectorate attached to the training department at the headquarters of the Ministry. All the officers of this inspectorate are highly qualified engineers and some of them have long experience of welding.