§ Mr. A. Edwardsasked the Minister of Labour if he is in consultation with the Departments of State concerned with building with a view to providing work for the thousands of building trade employees 372W who are threatened with unemployment; and if he is aware that building contractors in Middlesbrough are very short of contracts.
§ Mr. BevinI have no reason to anticipate a substantial degree of unemployment of building trade workers and the information in my possession does not suggest that there is unemployment of these workers in Middlesbrough. There is a wide field of operation for the building contractors in Middlesbrough, including the repair and maintenance of housing, which has the first call on immobile building labour after demands for war purposes have been met.