§ MR. SUMMERBELL (Sunderland)To ask the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to a Return (1906, No. 315) to an order of this House for a statement of the amount expended by boards of guardians for poor relief, 1906; whether he is aware that this Return, while giving the total amount spent by all the boards combined, without omission, only gives for each board the cost of poor relief, omitting salaries, rations and superannuation allowances of officers and servants, loan charges, expenditure on furniture, buildings and repairs, rents, rates, taxes, insurance, and certain establishment charges; and, seeing that the omitted items form more than half the cost of poor relief, whether, in the next published half-yearly Return, the Local Government Board will give the true cost of poor relief in each union.
(Answered by Mr. John Burns.) I am aware that the particulars given by the Return are those referred to by my hon. friend. For many years these Returns only contained statements as to the amounts expended in respect of in-maintenance and outdoor relief. Latterly the total expenditure of boards of guardians connected with the relief of the poor has beer included; but it does not seem necessary to give this information half-yearly as respects each Poor Law union. It is given annually in the Local Taxation Returns.
§ MR. SUMMERBELLTo ask the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called at page 456 of Appendix III. of the 35th Annual Report of the Local Government Board to the table given by Mr. Hervey as part of his Report; whether the title, in-relief, of one of the columns means in-maintenance or in-relief, including salaries and other charges; whether, at page 507 of the same Report, Mr. P. Bagenal is using the expression indoor relief as including salaries and 1422 other charges, or whether he means in-maintenance only; and, if so, whether he could give instructions to Local Government Board officials not to use the words in-relief in documents intended for publication when they only mean the cost of in-maintenance.
(Answered by Mr. John Burns.) The expressions in the Reports of these inspectors in relation to indoor relief are intended to refer to in-maintenance, and the figures given do not include salaries, etc., either as regards indoor or outdoor relief. I will draw the attention of the inspectors in question to the point suggested.