asked the Minister of Labour whether he will explain the reasons for the proposed closure of the employment exchange at Builth Wells, Breconshire; and what alternative arrangements he contemplates for an efficient service of his Department to be obtained by the residents of the area of the Builth Wells Urban, Builth Wells Rural and Colwyn Rural District Councils.

:The amount of business done at the branch employment office is not enough to warrant the continuance of full-time facilities. On the retirement of the branch manager in April a local service will be provided on three days a week, including market days.

:Will the Parliamentary Secretary look at this again? Surely the object of an employment exchange is not merely to pay out unemployment benefit. Particularly as Builth Wells is the centre of a de-populated area, the Ministry of Labour Exchange is very important in the district.

:We have looked at this very carefully. One of the reasons for this decision was that the live register of unemployed has averaged only 26. Certainly we shall keep it under review, and if the hon. Member has any further evidence we shall be glad to look at it.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he has now considered the views received from the National Joint Advisory Council on the subject of a comprehensive occupational health service; and what further action he is proposing.

:I assume my hon. Friend has in mind the consideration by the National Joint Advisory Council of the Dale Report on Industrial Health Services. My right hon. and learned Friend has received separately from the parties on the Council their views on matters arising out of that Report. In the course of these observations, proposals have been put forward relating to the development of a comprehensive occupational health service. This matter is under active consideration.

:When the Minister comes to consider what further action he can take, will my hon. Friend remind him of the Dale Committee's opinion that all the health services, including the occupational health service, should ultimately come under one administrative roof?

indicated assent.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware of the relatively high proportion of unemployed men over 50 years of age in Sunderland and district; and what steps he is taking to provide these men with employment.

:I am aware that unemployment in Sunderland and district is relatively high though wholly unemployed men aged 50 and over form a smaller proportion of the total number of unemployed males than for Great Britain as a whole. My officers cooperate closely with other Departments in seeking to increase employment opportunities in the area, and it may be hoped that older persons, here as elsewhere, will be helped by the attention being given to the First Report of the National Advisory Committee on the Employment of Older Men and Women.

I am very much obliged to the hon. Member for what he has said, but has his attention been called to a recent publication showing that nearly as much as one-quarter of our unemployed population are over 50, and whilst I agree that this is a reflection of the national problem it does demand attention from the Ministry?

Yes, I quite agree, and as Chairman of the National Advisory Committee my attention has certainly been drawn to it. I am glad the hon. Member raised it, because the more it is brought to public attention the more likely is it that we will get a solution.

asked the Minister of Labour the number of severely disabled persons in Sunderland at present unemployed.

On 21st December, 1953, there were, in Sunderland, 64 unemployed registered disabled persons, classified as unlikely to obtain employment except under sheltered conditions.

:Does the hon. Gentleman appreciate that this is a toll that industry takes from our workpeople, and again we feel that we in this industrial area are entitled to have the special protection of the Ministry.

:Yes, we certainly are doing what we can to meet the particular problem.

asked the Minister of Labour what factors caused the increase of 670 in the number of persons unemployed in Sunderland in January compared with the number unemployed the previous month.

The increase of 381 in the number of men unemployed included 177 in building and contracting, and 106 in shipbuilding and ship-repairing, mainly on account of bad weather on the day the unemployment count was taken. There were increases of 106 boys and 184 girls unemployed which consisted chiefly of school leavers who had not yet been placed in employment. The remainder of the increases occurred in a number of industries in which there were normal seasonal fluctuations.

:Does the Minister realise that we are disturbed in Sunderland by this substantial increase, which means that we have now the highest unemployment figure for two years? Can he assure the House that it is due to temporary causes?

:There are quite a few causes. I have mentioned the fact of bad weather on the day the count was taken, and, of course, it always takes a month or two to place school leavers in their first employment.

asked the Minister of Labour if he will investigate the case of an alleged wrongful dismissal of a senior assistant who was employed in a special department of Washington Steel Works, by the managing director of Joseph Cook Sons and Company (1930), Limited, Washington, County Durham; and if he will take steps to resolve the dispute which has arisen there from.

I have been informed about this case of alleged wrongful dismissal and, in my opinion, the circumstances are such that there is no useful action which my Department could take in the matter. If the ex-employee concerned thinks there has been some departure from the terms of his contract, it is, of course, open to him to seek legal advice.

Whilst I appreciate the difficulty of bringing this case within the Industrial Disputes Order, is the Minister aware that the action for which the senior assistant was dismissed was an action performed on the instructions of the Departmental manager, and it was the managing director who dismissed the senior assistant? Is he also aware that the action was associated with an attempt to settle a wage dispute, over which the workers were threatening to strike? Is not this an example of injustice for carrying out an order from a superior officer, and will not the Minister take exceptional action to deal with the particular injustice in this case?

It is a very difficult case, but I am afraid it does not fall within the ambit of the Industrial Disputes Order. We have tried to do what we can, as I think the hon. Member knows, to get a settlement unofficially, and we shall continue to do it.

asked the Minister of Labour what beneficial results have yet resulted from the Interim Report of the National Advisory Committee on the Employment of Older Men and Women.

:The general reaction of the public and the Press to the Report has been remarkably sympathetic, and examples of modifications of age restrictions on engagement or retirement are coming in daily from all parts of the country. Some 60 firms have withdrawn age limits on vacancies notified to employment exchanges, and about 500 firms have notified vacancies specifically for older workers. Many others have made known their willingness to engage older workers as and when they have suitable vacancies. There is also evidence of some relaxation in compulsory retirement rules.

The Press and organisations of many different kinds have co-operated excellently in giving publicity to the Report, and in promoting discussion on the subject. In particular, most local employment committees are giving the Report wholehearted support and are publicising its recommendations in their areas.

Can my hon. Friend say when the next report of the Committee is likely to appear, and will he convey the congratulations of the nation to this Committee for their good work?

:I thank my hon. Friend for his kind words. This Committee has done a lot of hard work and it has a lot more to do yet. When we shall produce our next report I could not say at the moment, but the Committee meets regularly, its sub-committees meet even more regularly, there is a vast field yet to cover and we hope, slowly anyway, that our efforts are having some result on the employment of older men and women.

:Does not the hon. Gentleman think it ironical that, when we have labour-saving devices and are entering into the atomic age for power, we are thinking in terms of a long working life rather than a shorter working life?

No, I do not think it is ironic. If the hon. Gentleman will be kind enough to read the Report he will see that it is essential for our survival, in an era of full employment, to make the best use of every man and woman.

asked the Minister of Labour to specify the chief items responsible for the food part of the Index of Retail Prices falling in the last six months from 113·8 to 109·6.

asked the Minister of Labour to give a list of the items of food that have decreased in price over the last few months which have resulted in a fall in the Index number of food prices.

Food items included in the Retail Prices Index which showed appreciable reductions in price between June and December, 1953, were bacon-canned ham, imported mutton, rabbits, eggs, potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, onions, cooking apples and condensed milk. Small decreases in average prices were recorded for several other food items.

Does not the hon. Member recognise that there are many more times the number of articles that have gone up in price and that some of the articles he has mentioned are not purchased daily by the bulk of the house wives of this country?

:I am, in answer to another Question, going to give the other side of the story, and I think that the two equally balance each other. I find it difficult to find anything in the list that I have given which does not figure in the normal expenditure of the average household.

But, in the main, are not these items decreased by a small amount, and is it not a fact that they are not used every day like tea, coffee, butter and so on, which have gone up? [Hon. Members: "Eggs?"] They are costing £20 million subsidy. These other items to which I have referred have gone up to such an extent that it completely offsets the small decreases which have occurred in other articles.

I cannot stop hon. Members compiling their own shopping lists, but as the hon. Member said those decreases were not significant, I think I should say that bacon has gone down 11 per cent., imported mutton 15 per cent. and tomatoes 31 per cent.

asked the Minister of Labour if he will specify the items included in the food part of the Index of Retail Prices which increased in price during the last six months.

Food items included in the Retail Prices Index which showed appreciable increases in price between June and December, 1953, were home-killed beef, most kinds of fish, butter, margarine, cooking fat and sugar. The price of milk was also higher in December than in June as a result of the arrangements for seasonal variationsin the price of milk.

:Does not the hon. Gentleman recognise that the best index is the grocery order book of the average housewife, and will the hon. Member bear in mind that those who are in the lower income groups spend a higher proportion on the goods that have gone up in price than those in the higher income groups, and does he not think that there should be a price index for people whose income is from £500 to £600 and another for those whose income is greater than that figure?

The fact is—and I ask the House to look carefully at this matter—that it is the concern of my Ministry to present facts. Again today I have given the facts about the items of food that have gone up and the items of food that have come down. I have said that when a careful balance is taken of the expenditure of the average household it means that the food section of the index has fallen four points in the last six months.

:What about the Housewives League?

If hon. Members like to take butter instead of eggs they can make all sorts of comparisons, but I do not want to argue that, because it is the duty of myself and of my Ministry to preserve this Index as something on which the wages of three million workers directly depend. I hope it will be agreed that the Ministry and I try to present the purely statistical facts of the case.

Is it not the fact that under the same system of indexing in the last year of the Socialist Government the prices went up 16 per cent.?

asked the Minister of Labour whether he has yet considered the letter from the hon. Member for West Ham, North, concerning the cost of living index figure; and whether he will make a statement in connection therewith.

:Although this Question was put down on Thursday, 28th January, the letter referred to was dated 31st January and was received yesterday only after special inquiries had been made by my Department. By making comparisons with 1951 and selecting only those items which have risen in price, the hon. Member's letter gives a completely misleading picture of what has happened to the average level of prices during 1953. As I stated in the House last week, the average level of retail prices has been steadier during 1953 than in any recent year and the average level of all retail food prices has fallen during the last six months.

The Minister will be aware of the fact that I sent him the excellent front page article and leading article in the "Daily Herald" which completely answer the statements he made previously today. Why is it that the Minister has made no reference to that, and will he be good enough to have it circularised in the Official Report so that we can get the facts?

I notice that the article in question thoughtfully mentions all the prices of foods that have gone up and mentions none that have come down.

:Would the hon. Gentleman agree that the difficulty about the Index is that whilst it sets out to reflect general price trends, what has happened regarding food prices is that in a condition of falling prices the Government, by their fiscal policy, have increased the prices of essential foods and that has distorted the Index?

That has nothing to do with the case. [Hon. Members: "It has."] Perhaps I may state the facts. Every month we take 100,000 price quotations to bring the Index up to date for that month, and those quotations are spread over the entire range of the things which go into the shopping basket of the normal household. The Index was produced by the previous Administration and I hope that none of us will try to make a party political issue out of what is a bit of factual statistical analysis.

Inview of the wide interest in the literary output of the hon. Member for West Ham, North (Mr. Lewis), could we have his letter published in the Official Report?

Hear, hear.