§ Mr. Thorneasked the Minister of Health what he intends doing with 50 1073W boys suffering from tuberculosis when the colony at Burrow Hill, Frimley, Surrey, is closed down; and why the colony is being closed?
§ Mr. E. BrownThe Burrow Hill colony was established by the National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis for the training of young boys affected by tuberculosis but not requiring full sanatorium treatment. I understand that the main difficulty of the colony is that, since the outbreak of war, economic reasons have made such boys unwilling to leave work to undertake training. The colony has also shared the difficulty met by most institutions of obtaining adequate nursing and domestic staff. I have already been able to give them some help and I understand that the nursing staff is at present adequate but that domestic staff is short. Some help has been given by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour and National Service and I have recently approached his Department again on this matter. I hope that it will be possible to keep the colony in operation for a time sufficient to settle how it can best be used until its original function can be fully restored, in which case the first part of the Question will not arise.