§ Mr. Joplingasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the towns in England and Wales where his offices were shut on New Year's Day; which of them have begun a practice of closing on New Year's Day during the last four years; and which offices had a third day's holiday during Christmas week.
§ Mr. CrossmanAll local and regional social security offices in Cheshire, Cumberland, Derbyshire (High Peak), Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmorland and the North Riding of Yorkshire (except Scarborough) were closed on New Year's Day.
Precise information is not readily available about the practice during the last few years but no significant change has taken place.
The divisional medical offices in Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, London, Manchester, Nottingham and Reading and the Welsh Board of Health in Cardiff were the only offices in this Department to have a third day's holiday during Christmas week.