55.
asked the Minister of Labour whether he is satisfied with the working of the Government Training Scheme for ex-Service men and women; what is the maximum capacity of each of the Government Training Centres; how many men and women are at present under training in each centre, and in what trades; how many of these men and women are ex-Service or ex-Merchant Navy; and whether it is proposed to expand the scheme.
In reply to the first part of the Question I would refer the hon. and gallant Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Moseley (Sir P. Hannon) on 9th October, a copy of which I am sending him. As the other parts of the Question involve statistical information, I will with permission circulate a detailed statement in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
Does the right hon. Gentleman realise that the general public want to know what is going on in this connection, and will he assure the House that wider publicity will be given to this in future?
Yes, Sir, and I hope the statement I am circulating will give the information required.
Following is the statement:
| CAPACITY AND STRENGTH OF EXISTING CENTRES. | ||||||
| Centre. | Estimated Maximum Capacity. | No. in Training. | No. of ex-Service, or ex-Merchant Navy, men and women (included in Cols. (3)-(4)) | |||
| Men. | Women. | |||||
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | ||
| Aintree | … | … | 464 | 58 | — | 44 |
| Birmingham | … | 468 | 196 | — | 136 | |
| Bristol | … | … | 400 | 122 | 1 | 94 |
| Edmonton | … | 508 | 160 | 7 | 145 | |
| Glasgow | … | … | 550 | 143 | 3 | 117 |
| Hounslow | … | 1,196 | 341 | 9 | 338 | |
| Leeds | … | … | 550 | 178 | 4 | 135 |
| Leicester | … | … | 700 | 160 | 3 | 123 |
| Letchworth | … | 874 | 232 | 3 | 151 | |
| Manchester | … | 450 | 168 | 5 | 110 | |
| Pontefract | … | 225 | 18 | — | 10 | |
| Slough | … | … | 616 | 246 | 4 | 218 |
| Southampton | … | 508 | 175 | 2 | 109 | |
| Treforest | … | … | 325 | 72 | — | 48 |
| Waddon | … | … | 572 | 261 | 10 | 232 |
| Wallsend | … | … | 508 | 221 | — | 181 |
| Watford | … | … | 372 | 15 | — | — |
| 9,286* | 2,766 | 51 | 2,189 | |||
* Adaptation work now in hand must be completed before the maximum number of places will be available | ||||||
Training Courses in Operation in Existing Centres.
Training is now available in existing Centres in the following trades:
Artificial Limb Making
Building Trades (Bricklayers, Carpenters, Painters, Plasterers, Plumbers and Wood Machinists)
Building and Civil Engineering Fitting
Draughtsmanship
Electricians
Hairdressing
Tailoring
Typewriter Repair
Watch and Clock Repairing
Welding
and arrangements are being made to extend training to other trades.