94. Mr. WORTHINGTON-EVANSasked the President of the Board of Trade whether the unemployment book belonging to William George Woolley, registered at the Colchester Labour Exchange, has yet been found; if he is aware that when Woolley reported the loss of his book and claimed benefit on 10th March last he was charged 1s. in connection with the lost book, but received no benefit, and that he has called every day since but has been refused benefit pending advice from 356 London; and whether steps will be taken to pay the arrears immediately?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the BOARD of TRADE (Mr. J. M. Robertson)The book was lost by the workman, and not by the Labour Exchange, and it was necessary to make inquiries of employers for whom he had worked (three in number) in order to ascertain how many contributions had been paid on his behalf, with a view to calculating the amount of benefit due to him. As a result, benefit was disallowed on the 27th March on the ground that the workman had not satisfied the first statutory condition of proving that he had been employed in each of twenty-six separate weeks in an insured trade. I regret that by an oversight this decision was not communicated to the workman at the time, but it has since been communicated to him, and a new book has been issued to him in place of that lost.