§ 26. Mr. GINNELLasked the Secretary to the Treasury if he will say to what amount annually the cost of the Poor Law medical service in England and Wales is paid by Exchequer Grants; this being in the circumstances an equivalent to the amount spent on the Poor Law medical service in Ireland, whether Ireland's share of the 2s. 6d. per head increased expenditure for the better working of the National Insurance Act on the 800,000 persons whom the Irish Commissioners expect to have insured presently is £100,000, instead of the £50,000 offered; having regard to the distances which country doctors in Ireland have to travel, and that they are not to benefit from the proposed 2050 extension of medical benefit to county boroughs in Ireland, whether they will be paid the 2s. 6d. per head to which the existing law entitles them as in England and Wales; and, if not, will he, for their information, state the reasons?
Mr. BENNThe points raised in the first part of the question are matters for argument which I am afraid I cannot carry further than I have done in my previous replies upon the subject. In the second part the hon. Member appears to ignore the fact that the payments in Great Britain to which he refers are payments not by way of endowment of the medical profession, but for services rendered in connection with medical benefit under the National Insurance Act (a benefit at present confined to Great Britain). I may, however, add that the question of an increase in the Grant of £50,000 in respect of expenses arising on account of the absence of medical benefit in Ireland is under consideration.