§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many special exemption orders relating to women over 18 years of age have been issued under Section 117 of the Factories Act in each of the past five years; how many of these orders were new orders; and how many were renewals of previous orders.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerThe Chairman of the Health and Safety Commission informs me that the position is as follows:
Year Number of orders New Renewals 1975 612 2,775 1974 917 2,702 1973 1,210 2,370 1972 813 2,308 1971 728 2,015 In a number of cases, orders included in the table cover young persons as well as women over 18 years of age.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he has any information indicating the industrial sectors in which special exemption orders allowing women over 18 years of age to work night shifts and Sundays are currently in force, giving a breakdown showing the numbers of women involved in 82W each sector for both types of exemption order.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerThe Chairman of the Health and Safety Commission informs me that on 30th November 1975 the position was as follows:
Number of women covered by orders permitting Industrial Sector Night shifts Sunday work 1. Food, drink and tobacco 17,830 7,150 2. Coal and petroleum products and chemicals and allied industries 933 3,120 3. Metal manufacture 896 440 4. Mechanical instrument and electrical engineering 6,809 10,562 5. Metal goods not else? where specified 2,607 3,833 6. Hosiery and other knitted goods 116 481 7. Cotton, linen and lace 848 1,267 8. Wool and worsted 1,144 400 9. Other textiles 605 1,165 10. Clothing and footwear, leather goods and fur 121 1,601 11. Bricks, pottery, glass, cement, etc. 2,164 183 12. Timber, furniture, etc 110 50 13. Paper, printing and publishing 1,722 3,299 14. Other manufacturing industries and miscelaneous services 11,257 2,999 Totals 47,162 46,550
§ Mr. Albert Robertsasked the Secretary of State for Employment what was the number of unemployed married women for October, November and December 1935; and how it compares with the same months in 1975.
§ Mr. John FraserI regret that information is not available for the earlier period.