Mr Richard Sharples: Consultations with interested bodies are continuing. It is too early to say when it will be possible for legislation to be introduced.
Mr Richard Sharples: I appreciate the feeling of the trade about this, but a large number of consultations have to take place, and these are proceeding.
Mr Richard Sharples: They received copies of the Act when it was published.
Mr Richard Sharples: I will look carefully into the particular case which the hon. Gentleman has raised.
Mr Richard Sharples: Mr. Gilbert entered the country with false papers. The deception was subsequently discovered, but he escaped from custody. My right hon. Friend will consider his position when he is apprehended.
Mr Richard Sharples: This is a person who came here illegally on a false Canadian passport, representing himself to have been born in the United Kingdom. He is liable to be sent back on those grounds irrespective of any other consideration which may arise.
Mr Richard Sharples: The hon. Member for Birmingham, Small Heath (Mr. Denis Howell), as one would expect, has made his case with force but with fairness. I am grateful to him for that. As we both know, this is not a party political matter. A great deal of the history that the hon. Gentleman has recounted refers to the period in office of the last Government, of which he was a member. I do not dispute what the...
Mr Richard Sharples: My last figure was that there was an increase in January, 1972, of 33, which is good. I do not have the figures for February, because the month is still only halfway through, but I have no reason to think that there is any change in the situation. I would not pretend that police manpower problems are solved, whether in Birmingham or nationally. There are still deficiencies in Birmingham, as...
Mr Richard Sharples: The hon. Member for Hackney, Central (Mr. Clinton Davis) has raised in this Adjournment debate a question of principle but has related it to a particular event which took place. I shall try in my reply to deal with the principle, and it is necessary in so doing that I should also deal with the particular case to which the hon. Gentleman has referred. I shall summarise the sequence of events...
Mr Richard Sharples: I appreciate that, but the hon. Gentleman is concerned that the Press should have been able to obtain information about the accident. The suggestion that the police were responsible for releasing the information was carefully investigated in the course of an inquiry held by the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis. The investigating officer found no evidence that the result of the test...
Mr Richard Sharples: Senior police officers must be responsible for their own handling of publicity in matters of this kind, provided that they are fair to the persons involved. They must also bear in mind carefully the effect that any publicity may have upon court proceedings which may follow. I have not had the time to check the exact relation between what happens in London and in Scotland. I have no reason to...
Mr Richard Sharples: I understand that it would be the general wish of the House that I should speak next and put the Government's point of view. I apologise to hon. Members for the time I might be taking up. I shall try to respond to the Bill and to the speech of the hon. Member for Fife, West (Mr. William Hamilton) in the spirit in which he moved the Second Reading. I think it right that the House should be...
Mr Richard Sharples: The hon. Gentleman will no doubt have his opportunity of speaking later. In a large section of industry men and women are not directly competing for jobs. Take for instance heavy engineering, transport and a whole variety of industries such as coal mining. There are large areas in which there is no direct competition at all.
Mr Richard Sharples: The vast majority of women are working in jobs which are an extension of their traditional domestic rôle.
Mr Richard Sharples: In a large section of industry most of the jobs are done by men because the jobs are of a certain kind and are incapable of being done by women.
Mr Richard Sharples: Coal mining.
Mr Richard Sharples: Heavy engineering.
Mr Richard Sharples: A large proportion of the building industry—a whole area. The vast majority of women are in jobs which are an extension of their traditional domestic rôle.
Mr Richard Sharples: These are such jobs as involve food, clothing, nursing, a large proportion in shops and in personnel and social services.
Mr Richard Sharples: A vast majority of women want jobs in these areas, and not because of discrimination. A survey was published in 1968 by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys showing that the great majority of women were satisfied with the job they were doing. It showed that married women—and over 50 per cent. of the women in employment are married—found that promotion and opportunities for using...