§ Mr. Harold Daviesasked the President of the Board of Trade whether any action is being taken to provide employment for ex-miners in South Wales who suffer from silicosis.
§ Mr. Ellis SmithA working party under the chairmanship of the hon. Member for Gower (Mr. Grenfell) has recently investigated the problem of providing employment in South Wales for ex-miners suffering from silicosis and other forms of pneumoconiosis, and they have submitted a report with precise recommendations. I should like to thank the hon. Member for Gower for having undertaken this investigation and for the report which has been submitted. I am making arrangements for the report to be published.
Apart from those whose disabilities are such that they require sheltered employment and who will be provided for by the Disabled Persons Employment Corporation, it is clear from the evidence put before the working party that suitable employment could be provided for these ex-miners in any light industry which was free from dust, fumes and heavy lifting. In many of the districts affected, there is at the present time no suitable employment available and the report, therefore, recommends that the Government Trading Estate Company shall build a series of factories in the particular localities most heavily affected.
The report recommends that these factories should be leased to firms who will undertake to employ 50 per cent. of disabled persons, in acknowledgment of which the Trading Estate Company would make adjustments of the rent. It was also proposed that, on the recommendation of the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Labour and National Service, the Trading Estate Companies be authorised to make suitable reductions in rent for any Government-owned premises where the employer is agreeable to engaging a high percentage of such disabled persons. The Government are, forthwith, taking steps to implement the main proposals of the report within the South Wales Development Area.