§ 69. Mr. NEEDHAMasked whether the attention of the Secretary to the Treasury has been drawn to proposals made by an approved society to relieve employers of the duty of affixing stamps to the insurance cards of their employés; and whether he can state the decision of the National Insurance Commissioners in regard to such proposals and the reasons for such decision?
§ Mr. MASTERMANAs I stated in the answers to my hon. Friend the Member for Haggerston and the hon. Members for the Exchange Division of Liverpool and Buteshire on the 17th inst. and yesterday, the stamping of cards (whether quarterly, under the special arrangements for bulk stamping, or weekly) must not be done by any approved society nor by any body forming a separate section approved under the Act; and no system can be allowed which might lead to a contravention of the principle that an insured person should have the right of joining any approved society without disclosing its name to his employer.
§ 75. Mr. ROWNTREEasked if an employed contributor under the National Insurance Act who applies for membership in an approved society between now and the 15th of October, and obtains an insurance card from that society, will be obliged to return his card on 15th October to the society from which he obtains it, or may he, without the consent of that society, transfer his membership and deliver up his card to some other society?
§ Mr. MASTERMANIf the contributor is an actual member of the first society the conditions of his transfer to another society would depend upon the rules of the first society. In order to take his transfer value he would require to have the consent of the first society to his transfer (which must not, however, be unreasonably withheld) under Section 31 (1) of the National Insurance Act.