§ Sir G. Gibsonasked the Minister of Labour what is the estimated number of shoe operatives, male and female separately, engaged on munition work; and if, 1808W in view of the serious shortage of supplies of boots and shoes, both on civilian and Service account, he is making any arrangements to have large numbers of operatives transferred back to the industry, particularly from those firms where many of these operatives are redundant; and to what extent he has taken steps to deal with the situation.
§ Mr. McCorquodaleI regret that it would not be in the public interest to give the information asked for in the first part of the Question. In order to meet the requirements for boots and shoes, skilled ex-operatives who become redundant on other work are being transferred back to the industry; in certain cases they are being returned to the industry even though they may not be redundant in their present employment.