§ LORD GAINFORDasked His Majesty's Government why the Minister of Labour has made an order under Regulation 59 of the Defence Regulations to permit the employment of children of fourteen and fifteen years of age to be employed for 53 hours a week in the Pottery Industry; whether His Majesty's Medical Inspectors of Factories were consulted prior to this decision being taken, and what instructions, if any, have been given to His Majesty's Inspectors of Factories to exclude from the operation of the Order children of fourteen and fifteen where employment is particularly arduous.
§ LORD MOYNECircumstances in the pottery industry are exceptional. When, in the Factories Act of 1937, provision was made for reducing, as from the 1st July, 1939, the weekly hours of young persons under sixteen to 44, it was a novelty to require the hours of young persons under sixteen in factories to be shorter than the regular hours of older people working with them, and it was specifically recognized in the Act that some industries might be so dependent on the employment of young persons below that age, and so organized, that the carrying on of the industry would be seriously prejudiced unless their weekly hours were permitted to exceed 44, even after that date. The Act provided for public inquiries into this point. After such an inquiry the pottery industry was found to be one of these, and weekly hours up to 48 have continued to be legal in that industry for those under sixteen. The regular working hours of older persons have been 47. Recently the Minister of Labour and National Service appealed526WA to the industry to increase the regular working hours for the purpose of releasing more workers from potteries for work of urgent importance elsewhere. Representatives of employers and workers agreed to an increase up to 53, but strongly represented that their proposals would be impracticable unless they applied to workers of all ages. The Minister consulted the Chief Inspector of Factories, but no special inquiries were made by Medical Inspectors.
The Minister was satisfied that there would be exceptional difficulties in reorganizing the work on the basis of a 48 hour maximum for those under sixteen and at the same time releasing the desired quota of older workers. The importance and urgency of such releases outweighed, in his view, the objections which would normally exist to enabling young persons under sixteen to work up to 53 hours a week. There are special regulations in force in this industry for protecting the health of the workers and preventing the employment of young persons on various kinds of work involving special strain or other special dangers. In the circumstances, inspectors have not been, and are not being, instructed that permissions under the Order should exclude young persons under sixteen employed on other kinds of work. It was, however, specifically intimated to them that they could refer to headquarters proposals to restrict the application of the Order in the case of persons under sixteen; and both sides were warned that a special watch should be kept on young persons employed for longer hours to see whether there were signs of undue fatigue.