§ Mr. GOULDINGasked the President of the Local Government Board (1) whether the latest official declaration of policy from his Department with regard to relief to the respectable aged is the circular of the President of 4th August, 1900, printed in the Thirtieth Annual Report, in which it was laid down that such persons were not to be urged to enter the workhouse at all, unless from actual infirmity, etc., but that, irrespective of any medical certificate, adequate outdoor relief should be granted to them; whether it is customary in accordance with this circular in most unions to grant, without any medical certificate and irrespective of any specific infirmity, outdoor relief to such deserving aged persons as are not entitled to old age pensions; and whether the draft order as to out relief, the issue of which is under consideration, will prohibit such outdoor relief in respect merely of old age; and (2), whether he is aware that the effect of the proposed Outdoor Relief Order would be to transfer the discretion as to the grant of outdoor relief to aged persons from the guardians to the medical officer, and to make it dependent on his giving a certificate that the aged person was 1049 suffering from some specific disease; and whether, in view of such a marked reversal of policy with regard to the deserving aged as compared with that promulgated in the Circular of the Local Government Board of 4th August, 1900, some opportunity will be afforded to the House of Commons to express an opinion on the subject before, by the signing of the proposed new Order, the reversal of policy is carried into effect?
§ Mr. BURNSI see no reason to dissent from the view that the Circular to which the hon. Member refers may be regarded as the latest official declaration of the policy of the Local Government Board with regard to relief to the aged deserving poor, and I am happy to think that the principles there laid down are very generally acted upon by boards of guardians. I may point out that it would not be necessary under the Order proposed by the Departmental Committee that a medical officer should certify that an aged person is suffering from some specific disease: a certificate that he is infirm through old age would seem to satisfy the requirements of the Order. The Report of the Committee is receiving my careful consideration, and, as I explained in the House on Monday last, I do not propose to take any action upon it at the present moment.
§ Mr. GOULDINGMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he will give the House the opportunity of discussing the matter before any action is taken on the Report?
§ Mr. BURNSLong before that question could be satisfactorily answered, as I said on Monday, it is important that the Boards of Guardians, the Poor Law Unions Association, and those most directly concerned in the administration of the poor law should have, as they shortly will have, opportunities both as guardians and in conference, to review this Order, and to make criticisms and suggestions, and we will be pleased to receive suggestions from whatever quarter they may come.