HC Deb 02 November 1908 vol 195 cc785-6
MR. KETTLE (Tyrone, E.)

I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board what is the principle or standard according to which the amount of the Parliamentary Grant to be allocated to each distress committee under the Unemployed Workmen Act is determined.

MR. JOHN BURNS

The general lines on which I am administering the Grant are to make payments out of it to the distress committees of those districts in which, on the information before me, there seems to be exceptional need for assistance in meeting the cost of providing or contributing to the provision of temporary work. There are many distress committees, I am glad to say, to whom it is not necessary that any payment should be made. The amount paid to any particular committee depends on the character of the work proposed, the number of persons to be employed on it, and all the circumstances of the case.