asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that single men at Blaina, Monmouthshire, had been offered employment at Chepstow through the local Employment Exchange and, upon refusal to accept the offer suffered loss or reduction in their allowances, that they afterwards agreed to go to the place of employment and defrayed the cost of travel themselves, but upon arrivel at Chepstow discovered that no employment was available; that they obtained reimbursement of the money spent on travelling but received no consideration for the loss of their allowance from the day of refusing employment to the time they presented themselves at Chepstow; and whether he will take the necessary measures to prevent the recurrence of this practice?

My inquiries into this case are not yet complete. I will communicate with the hon. Member as soon as possible.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he can make any statement about the payment of unemployment benefit to unemployed men who serve as members of lifeboat crews?

I propose to make a regulation shortly under my war-time powers providing that the mere fact of receiving remuneration for attending a wreck shall not debar lifeboatmen who are otherwise unemployed from receipt of unemployment benefit.

I would like to assure the right hon. Gentleman that we shall be very grateful for that regulation.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware of the anomalous position of ex-soldiers with pre-1914 disability pensions; and whether he is prepared to treat all disabled ex-soldiers on the same basis so far as qualifications for employment benefit are concerned?

Unemployment Insurance legislation has never made special provision for pensioners of wars earlier than that of 1914–18. If the hon. Member has any specific case in mind, I shall be glad to have particulars.

asked the Minister of Labour whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that, when a local authority desires to fill vacancies in its air-raid precautions staff, entrants have to undergo a week's preliminary training without pay whilst at the same time they are disqualified for unemployment benefit or unemployment assistance; and whether he will take steps to remove this disqualification in respect of the training period?

I am making inquiries and will communicate with the hon. Member in due course.

asked the Minister of Labour whether his attention has been drawn to the present high rate of unemployment in the ship-painting industry; and what steps he proposes to take to deal with it?

On 1st April the number of ships' painters in Great Britain registered as wholly unemployed was 196. This figure represents a decrease of 240 since the end of January, 1940. As regards the second part of the Question, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave to the hon. and learned Member for Greenock (Mr. R. Gibson) on 4th April.

asked the Minister of Labour the total number of part-time women employees at present signing at the Maryhill Employment Exchange; and how often they sign per week?

I am having the available figures extracted and will forward them to the hon. Member as soon as possible.

asked the Minister of Labour whether opportunities are provided for men of 50 years of age and upwards to train for industrial jobs; and whether he can state the number of such men already trained, or in training at present?

The normal upper limit of age of recruitment for the Government training centres is 45, but two months ago I decided to admit men over 45 provided they are sufficiently fit and handy to take full advantage of the course. Men over 50 who satisfy this condition can be accepted. No figures are available as to the number of such men already trained or in training.