§ MR. ARTHUR HENDERSON (Durham, Barnard Castle)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been called to the list of successful applicants under the Old-Age Pensions Act in the Carnarvon pension officer's district and the Swaffham pension officer's district, published in the Carnarvon Herald and the Eastern Daily Press; and whether the Government are prepared to take any steps to prevent the publication in future of the names of successful applicants in the Press.
§ MR. LLOYD-GEORGEI have no knowledge of the source of the information published in the cases referred to. So far as the pension officers are concerned, the Board of Inland Revenue have issued a circular directing that, except as laid down in their instructions to pension officers, no officer in their service shall communicate any information or statistics relating to old-age pensions otherwise than to his official superiors or to the pension committee with which he is connected. There is, however, no statutory obligation to secrecy upon the local pension committee, and it is within the discretion of that committee to publish a list of the pensions awarded, if they think proper to do so. I do not think it is at all desirable that the names of successful applicants should be made public, and I hope that the pension committees will, as a rule, abstain from issuing them to the Press.