§ Mr. Masonasked the Minister of Labour why work in the trades for which training is provided at the Leeds workshop for the blind is not available in Barnsley; and whether he will take steps to remedy this situation.
§ Mr. HareAs I stated in reply to the hon. Member on 8th May, the existing small workshop for the blind at Barnsley is full, but the local authority is proposing to build a new and larger workshop. This will provide employment both for blind and for other severely disabled people, but probably not in the trades provided at the Leeds Workshop. These are chiefly traditional hand-crafts, and in my view a local authority establishing a new workshop would be well advised to consider, as Barnsley is doing, the introduction of other kinds of work.
§ Mr. Masonasked the Minister of Labour, if he is aware that because disabled and blind persons in need of training and employment are not allowed to enter workshops outside their own area numbers of people are permanently unemployed; and what steps he intends to take to solve this problem before his working party on workshops for the blind reports.
§ Mr. HareDisabled or blind people in need of sheltered employment may, and often do, enter workshops outside their own areas, for training and subsequent employment. The second part of the question does not therefore arise.
§ Mr. Masonasked the Minister of Labour when he estimates that the new workshop for the blind and disabled in Barnsley will be built.
§ Mr. HareNo date can at present be given. I have approved the local authority's proposals in principle, but the building plans are not yet settled.
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§ Mr. Masonasked the Minister of Labour if he will give the figure of registered disabled who are considered unsuitable for any form of training for employment; and what he will do to help this group of disabled persons.
§ Mr. HareThe special inquiry carried out in August, 1961, to which I referred in the answer to the hon. Member on 8th May, showed that about 37,000 of some 44,800 registered disabled persons then unemployed were unsuitable for any form of Government vocational training. My disablement resettlement officers do their best to find work for such people which does not demand skilled training.
§ Mr. Masonasked the Minister of Labour if he is now prepared to extend Remploy and change the qualifications for entry to allow more disabled persons the chance to work.
§ Mr. HareI have provided for an increasing grant to Remploy during their current five-year plan to enable them to employ more severely disabled people. I think it right that vacancies in Remploy factories should continue to be reserved for severely disabled people.