asked the Minister of Labour the estimated total annual additional cost to local education authorities of the junior instruction centres foreshadowed in the Unemployment Bill?

The cost will depend on the number and size of the centres set up, and these will in turn depend on the degree and distribution of unemployment among juveniles under the age of 18. On the basis of an average total attendance of 100,000, it is estimated that the additional cost of the centres in the first full year, including capital expenditure, would be about £1,130,000, of which it is contemplated that one-fourth, or about £280,000, would be borne by the local education authorities. The cost at present borne by those authorities in this connection is estimated to be in the neighbourhood of £35,000.

asked the Minister of Labour the number of insured persons, employed and unemployed, in the engineering, coal and textile industries, respectively, within the areas of the Aspull, Blackrod, Horwich, Hindley and Westhoughton urban districts separately, on the most convenient date for the years 1923, 1929 and 1933?

Figures showing the numbers of insured persons recorded as unemployed at the Employment Exchanges at Horwich, Hindley and Westhoughton, on October, 1923, October, 1929, and October, 1933, are being extracted, and I will supply them when ready to the hon. Member. Similar figures are not available for local authority areas. There is no Employment Exchange at Aspull or Blackrod. I regret that comparable figures as to the numbers in employment in these industries and districts are not available.