§ Mr. PETOasked the President of the Local Government Board whether, when the Steyning Board of Guardians had under consideration an application from their vaccination officers in August last for gratuity in respect of loss of fees which they had sustained in consequence of the Vaccination Act and Order, 1907, also for the scale of fees allowed to be increased, they decided that the matter be deferred until such time as the Local Government Board had come to a decision; whether the officers in this union made a similar application to their board the previous year and were refused either compensation or increased fees, and, acting upon the suggestion made by him, they communicated direct with the Local Government 1002 Board; if so, what action does he propose to take with regard to the loss of income sustained by the officers in this union; and whether he intends now to inform the guardians of this union that it was not his intention to issue any general order, or whether he intends to issue a general order to cover this and other cases?
§ The PRESIDENT of the LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. Burns)The vaccination officers in this union all hold other offices, and in communicating with the guardians in 1910 I found that, although their receipts from vaccination fees had diminished, their total incomes had increased in each case. It did not, therefore, appear to mo necessary to urge the guardians to grant them compensation. I have had no communication from the guardians or from the vaccination officers on this subject since 1910.
§ Mr. PETOasked the President of the Local Government Board whether, owing to the increase of exemptions in the three years ended 31st December last, the vaccination officer of the West Bromwich Union sustained a total loss of fees of £126 2s., towards which the guardians, with the sanction of the Local Government Board, have awarded gratuities amounting to £45; whether, seeing that out of the 5,398 births registered in the West Bromwich Union in the year 1910, 1,695 children have been legally exempted from vaccination, and, in respect of 4,463 births registered in the present year up to 31st October, 1,483 statutory declarations of conscientious objection have been received, he will consider the advisability of the vaccination officer's fees of 3d. per birth and 9d. per successful vaccination being revised for the work performed by him; and whether, having regard to the fact that the guardians have refused to increase the officer's fees and have intimated that they will not sanction any further gratuities although the officer is still suffering hardship from a continual increase of exemptions, he proposes to take any action to bring the officer's remuneration up to the average for the years 1903–7 or thereabouts?
§ Mr. BURNSI am aware of the circumstances of the case. In sanctioning the gratuity proposed by the guardians in March last, I drew the attention of the guardians to the losses suffered by the vaccination officer and suggested an increase of fees. In April, the guardians submitted a proposal to appoint the vaccination officer as assistant relieving officer 1003 at a salary of £1 a week; and one of the conditions attached to this appointment was that no further claim for loss of vaccination fees should be made by the vaccination officer. The vaccination officer, as I was informed, was quite satisfied with this arrangement; and I sanctioned the appointment. No further communication on the matter has been received from the vaccination officer.
§ Mr. BUTCHERMight I ask the right hon. Gentleman, in view of the difficulty of dealing with individual local authorities, whether he will issue a general order on the subject of the remuneration of vaccination officers?
§ Mr. BURNSOn that point I have very little to add to the communications I made to the hon. Member on previous occasions. We are dealing with the twenty-five outstanding grievances, and we are meeting with considerable success.
§ Mr. SNOWDENasked the President of the Local Government Board whether he has sanctioned the practice of paying fees to workhouse medical officers for vaccinations performed by them in Poor Law institutions; and, if not, whether he will issue an order directing that the performance of vaccinations shall be regarded in future as part of the ordinary duties of the officers for which they are paid by salary?
§ Mr. BURNSI may refer to the answer I gave to the hon. Member on the 20th November. The system of payment by fees, which was established by Statute in 1867, has been continued since. I am, however, not unwilling to consider the question of allowing a workhouse medical officer an inclusive salary to cover payments for vaccination when a vacancy has to be filled.
§ Mr. SNOWDENHas the practice mentioned in the latter part of the answer been adopted in any case?
§ Mr. SNOWDENasked whether the vaccinations performed in Poor Law institutions are performed by public vaccinators only or by the workhouse medical officers when the latter are not public vaccinators; why these vaccinations cannot all be performed By the medical officer to the workhouse, whether he is a public vaccinator or not; and why the salary paid to the workhouse medical officer cannot include the cost of vaccinating the inmates?
§ Mr. BURNSIn most cases the workhouse is a separate vaccination district, and a contract has been entered into for the performance of vaccination in it with the medical officer of the workhouse. Where there is no such contract, the workhouse medical officer is in nearly every case the public vaccinator of the district, including the workhouse, and vaccinates in the workhouse in that capacity. It is not the duty of the workhouse medical officer as such to vaccinate any of the inmates of the workhouse other than the children requiring vaccination.
§ Sir GEORGE SCOTT ROBERTSONasked the President of the Local Government Board whether the last two outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in the United States are declared authoritatively to have been started by calves used to propagate vaccine virus, and that calves used for the same purpose in India and Japan are believed frequently to be attacked by foot-and-mouth disease; and what steps he proposes to take to prevent the importation into this country of vaccine virus which may be contaminated with this disease?
§ Mr. BURNSA careful study of the evidence contained in the Report issued by the United States Department of Agriculture has not led my advisers to quite the same conclusions at which the American investigators arrived. The precautions taken at the Government lymph establishment in regard to the use of imported lymph are of a stringent character, and no further measures seem to be called for at present.