§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will seek advice from those EEC countries which operate or are planning to operate restrictions on overtime working as a means of alleviating some unemployment, with a view to introducing such measures in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. John FraserUnemployment is a problem we have in common with other EEC countries and it will clearly be advantageous to profit from their experience in dealing with it. For the present, however, I regard the reduction of overtime in Britain against a background of high unemployment as an objective to be pursued by agreement between managements and workers.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the estimate of the increase in departmental staff which would be required to deal with the extra work generated if the statutory restrictions on overtime working applying to females were applied to males.
§ Mr. BoothI am informed by the Chairman of the Health and Safety Commission that it is not possible to estimate accurately the increase in departmental staff which would be required to deal with any extension of the statutory restrictions under the Factories Act 1961 on overtime working to include males. Her Majesty's factory inspectors normally enforce the restrictions on the hours of employment of women and young persons 387W at the same time as they carry out inspections, and no record is kept of what proportion of their time is spent on this subject or of what time is spent by clerical staff maintaining overtime records.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Employment when he expects to commence publication of overtime statistics on a regional basis.
§ Mr. John FraserStatistics of overtime in manufacturing industries on a regional basis will be published in theDepartment of Employment Gazette within the next month or two.