HC Deb 15 November 1949 vol 469 cc199-200W
Mr. Bossom

asked the Minister of Labour how he now lists the 760,000 local government and national civil servants who appeared on the total official lists for 1948, and no longer appear in the lists for 1949, though still in local or national Government employ; and why he made the change in classification.

Mr. Isaacs

I presume the hon. Member is referring to the different figures for the national and local government service group at December, 1948, which appear in Tables 4 and 16 of the March, 1949, issue of the Monthly Digest of Statistics. The difference between the two sets of figures arises from two causes: the effect of the National Insurance Acts on the scope of the statistics and the introduction of the Standard Industrial Classification. I am sending the hon. Member a copy of an article describing the effect of these changes and of the introduction of the new series of manpower statistics which appeared in the February, 1949, issue of the Ministry of Labour Gazette. The Standard Industrial Classification was adopted to secure uniformity and

Mr. Isaacs

In July, 1923, 13,633 at Canning Town and 7,845 at Stratford. In July, 1949, the corresponding figures were 652 and 414.