asked the Minister of Labour the number of persons under Section 2 of the Unemployed Disabled Register coming within the catchment area of, and awaiting admission to, the Remploy factory, Coventry.

There are at present eight such persons considered suitable by my officers for submission for employment at this factory. Two of these have been accepted by Remploy and are awaiting a vacancy.

Will the Parliamentary Secretary comment on the fact that when I visited the Remploy factory last month the area liaison officer told me he could not possibly take on more people, because of the lack of work from the Government to the factory?

I may be able to give more helpful information in answer to the hon. Lady's next Question.

asked the Minister of Labour the present number of disabled people employed at the Remploy factory, Coventry; what number would normally be employed; and what would be the maximum which could be accommodated if sufficient work were available.

Fifty-nine are at present employed. The average number employed over the last five years is seventy-one. The answer to the last part of the Question is eighty-five.

Could the Parliamentary Secretary comment on this fact? Is it not true that last year Government contracts to Remploy factories in general dropped considerably? Would his right hon. Friend take up the matter with the Minister of Supply, because we in Coventry are very deeply concerned about this matter?

All I can say to the hon. Lady is that my right hon. Friend is having discussions very much on this point. The particular factory in Coventry is one, as the hon. Lady knows, which does preservation, identification and packing, and it is finding orders difficult to obtain. It is on trying to stimulate orders for Remploy that my right hon. Friend's discussions are concentrated.