HR G Hurst Esq
LA/C417/14B
6
•
the country, but because of the lack of resources available to local authorities to implement regulations during the present period of financial restraint, the regulations have been deferred for at least two years, during which time local by-laws will continue to operate.
Performances by children are a separate issue and are governed by section 37 et seq of the Children and Young Persons Act, 1963 and the Children (Performances) Regulations 1968. A Home Office pamphlet on the law on
Generally
performances by children is published by the Stationery Office. children have to be licensed by the local education authority to take part in performances, and there are detailed restrictions on hours and conditions in relation to the age of the children.
There is no legislation governing the wages paid to children, as of course they are regarded as dependent on their parents and what they earn by part- time work is pocket-money.
What was said in the Russian article about impoverished parents being forced to send children out to work in order to make ends meet is quite unfounded.
4 The social spending cuts referred to in the article will not course mean a fall in working families incomes, as most benefits, including child benefits and Family Income Supplement have been or are to be increased. There is, also, no attempt to "pass off" boys delivering newspapers or helping the milkman as "labour training".
A government sponsored study on the employment of children was carried out in 1970 by Dr W Emrys Davies found no evidence of parental pressure on children to find paid employment and that few children worked so that they might contri- bute to the family income. Conditions in paid employment some children of course help the milkman and help in other jobs for the fun of it - were considered by most of the employed children to be satisfactory, although it was found that the by-laws were often ignored in the sense that local authorities were not always informed of the employment, although this did not necessarily mean that the employment was prohibited by the terms of the by-laws. The few complaints that we receive about the employment of children are usually from the children or their parents about the by-laws being too restrictive.
The enforcement of the law is a matter for local education authorities, and if you require further information about this I suggest you contact Mr J Reeve at the Department of Education and Science (Tel: 626 1515, exe 52 to whom I am copying this letter. I am also sending a copy to Mr MacKenzie.
If you want any further information which you think I could give you please do not hesitate to let me know.
*928-9222 EXT 2076
Yours sincerely
m.m.
P HARMSTON
Span
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.