Brought from the Lords 16 July 1928.

(Employment and Protection) Bill.

MEMORANDUM.

This Bill proposes to consolidate with amendments and fresh provisions the enactments now in force relating to the employment of children and young persons and to their protection in relation to employment.

The Bill does not extend to Northern Ireland. The following are among the amendments proposed by the Bill:

1. No person under the age of thirteen may be
employed in any capacity, unless lawfully em-
ployed when the Bill comes into operation :
2. Persons under the age of sixteen may not be
employed for more than thirty-eight hours a
week or eight hours in a day:

3. Persons between sixteen and eighteen years of
age may not be employed for more than forty-
eight hours a week or nine hours in a day:
4. Persons under eighteen years of age may not be
employed on one weekday after one o'clock
in the afternoon, and may not be employed at
all on Sundays:

5. The above restrictions may in certain cases (e.g.,
as respects Sundays for persons of the Jewish
religion) be varied by order of the Government
Department concerned, so, however, that the
general conditions of labour are not less favour-
able to the employed persons. Drafts of such
orders must be laid before Parliament:

6. A register is to be kept of all persons under the age of eighteen employed in factories, workshops, wholesale or retail shops, warehouses, and other industrial undertakings, or on board ships:

7. Notice is to be given at the proper Employment Exchange of the entry or leaving of employment by a person under sixteen, unless the employment is of a casual nature and not connected with the employers' trade or business :

(Employment and Protection).

8. The powers of a local education authority to make byelaws regulating the employment of children in attendance at school are to some extent retained; but no child in attendance at school may be employed before the close of school hours:

9. As respects factories and workshops the amendments correspond to those proposed by the Factories Bill of 1924. Section two of the Employment of Women, Young Persons, and Children Act, 1920, ceases to have effect as respects persons under eighteen. It is to be noted that in the provisions of the Bill relating to factories and workshops the expression "child" means a person under sixteen years of age.

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10. No person under the age of sixteen may be employed in any mine to which the Coal Mines Act, 1911, applies, unless lawfully so employed when the Bill comes into operation. No person under the age of eighteen may be employed in or in connection with any such mine or in connection with any metalliferous mine except he produces a medical certificate of fitness. Persons under the age of eighteen so employed are to be entitled to the same annual holidays as persons under that age employed in factories: 11. The prohibition of employment of persons under sixteen in painting with lead paint is made absolute, except as regards apprentices. respects persons between sixteen and eighteen the law on this point is not amended, except that the penalty for contravention is increased. 12. Persons under the age of sixteen may not be employed on any sea-going ship, so, however, that the provision does not prevent a person of or over the age of fourteen being so employed if only members of the same family are employed on board. Consequential amendments are made in the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894: 13. No boy under the age of sixteen and no girl under the age of eighteen may be employed as a member of an agricultural gang within the meaning of the Agricultural Gangs Act, 1867:

(Employment and Protection).

14. Street trading is prohibited in the case of boys
under sixteen and of girls under eighteen. In
the case of small boroughs, urban districts, and
rural districts the council of the county can
issue street traders' licences to persons over
thirteen authorising them to sell between 8 a.m.
and 8 p.m. on some particular date for some
religious or charitable object on condition that
they are not paid to do so:

15. Entertainment licences can be issued by the
councils of county boroughs and counties autho-
rising persons between fourteen and eighteen
years of age, or where " special education bye-
laws "
are in force between fifteen and eighteen
years of age, to take part in certain public
entertainments after 8 p.m. In other respects
also the law relating to children and young
persons taking part in public entertainments is
strengthened :

16. Except under the protection of an entertainment
licence no person under the age of eighteen can
be employed by night, that is between 8 p.m.
and 6 a.m.

17. The age below which it is unlawful for a person to take part in a "dangerous performance" is raised for both boys and girls to eighteen. The power of issuing licences for training as acrobats, circus-performers, &c., is transferred to the county council or the council of the county borough. These licences are called "trainers' licences.' No trainer's licence can be issued in respect of a person under the age of fourteen: 18. The Children (Employment Abroad) Act, 1913, is re-drafted and greatly strengthened. The age below which prohibition is absolute is raised for both boys and girls to sixteen. A licence is required for girls between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one, and for boys between the ages of sixteen and eighteen.

Except as regards employment under the immediate supervision of a Government Department (e.g., mines, shipping, factories and workshops), the execution of the Bill is placed in the hands of the local authorities. These

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authorities in England and Wales are the councils of counties and county boroughs, and in the City of London is the Common Council. In Scotland the local authority is the county council, except in burghs with a population of fifty thousand or upwards. Where the local authority is not the authority for elementary education the local authority can arrange with the authority for elementary education to perform their duties and exercise their powers under the Bill, subject to the restriction that all licensing is to continue with the local authority.