Mr. Ted Fletcherasked the Minister of Labour why the number of registered premises, inspected to 31st December, 1966 under the provisions of the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act, 1963 has fallen by 6,393 compared with the figures of the previous year.
§ Mr. FernyhoughIt is expected that as the premises covered by the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act receive their initial general inspection, more time will be spent on dealing with matters arising out of the inspections and the number of general inspections will fall. The number of visits, including inspections made to registered premises in 1966 was 673,302 compared with 566,818 in 1965. The decrease in the number of general inspections therefore does not reflect any falling off in the work of enforcing the Act.