An Act to amend the law with regard to the destruction of children at or before birth. Brought from the Lords 16 July 1928. Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed, 17 July 1928. To be purchased directly from H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses: 120, George Street, Edinburgh; York Street, Manchester; (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 3. Persons between sixteen and eighteen years of 5. The above restrictions may in certain cases (e.g., 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. As 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 15. Entertainment licences can be issued by the 16. Except under the protection of an entertainment 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 (Employment and Protection). 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. |