§ 59 and 60. Mr. LARDNERasked (1) how many officials have been appointed in Ireland to administer Part II. of the National Insurance Act; how many of these are Civil servants, and how many are private individuals, and, if the latter, how many are employed wholly in the administration of the Act and how many are only engaged for part time; and (2) how many offices have been opened or are proposed to be opened in Ireland for the administration of the National Insurance Act, Part II., in Ireland; how many of these have been established in post offices in Ireland, and how many have been placed under the control of private individuals; and what scale of salaries is proposed to be paid to postmasters and private individuals, respectively?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the BOARD of TRADE (Mr. J. M. Robertson)Part II. of the National Insurance Act will be administered in Ireland by the Board of Trade through the twenty-four Labour Exchanges which have been or are about to be established, the staff of which consists of 103 whole-time officers, and through 129 local agencies, in which the staff are only part-time officers: eighty of these are Civil servants in the employ of the Post Office. The remuneration of private individuals and commissioned sub-postmasters is based on the number of unemployment books current in the area of the agency at 857 the end of the year upon a fixed scale. Any question as to the remuneration to be paid to salaried officers of the Post Office is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Postmaster-General.