§ 23. Mr. Kennedyasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he is aware that the legal entitlement of local authorities in Scotland to recover amounts paid in the form of relief to poor persons from poor persons' parents and other relatives operates harshly in cases where parents, with domestic responsibilities of their own and very small incomes, are held to be legally liable for the maintenance, for instance, of widowed daughters and their children in necessitous circumstances; and whether he will take steps to restrain the action of local authorities seeking to recover weekly sums to meet the cost of relief in such cases?
§ Mr. ElliotI am not aware that the powers of local authorities to recover poor relief expenditure from poor persons' parents or other relatives legally bound to maintain them operate harshly or that local authorities seek to recover from parents with very small incomes. The question whether any relative against whom a local authority bring an action for recovery of relief expenditure is able to repay the sum claimed is a matter for the courts to determine and I have no power to intervene.