§ 74 and 75. Mr. NORTON-GRIFFITHSasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if his attention has been drawn to numerous applications for out-of-work benefits by insured persons who have been forced to relinquish their work owing to the strike in various trades in the Midlands; and (2) if his attention has been drawn to the distress, owing to the strike, in Wednesbury and Walsall and other districts in the Midlands; whether he is aware that there are thousands of children on the verge of starvation; whether he can state that the parents of these children, many of whom have been forced by the acts of others to stop work, are entitled to the insurance benefits; and, if so, whether the Government will take immediate steps to see that the parents receive, with the least possible delay, the benefits under the Act?
The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the BOARD of TRADE (Mr. Robertson)I have been asked by my right hon. Friend to answer these questions. I am aware that there are trade disputes in the districts mentioned by the hon. Member, and I understand that a certain number of applications for unemployment benefit have been made by workmen in the insured trades thrown out of employment by reason of those disputes. The grant of benefit in such cases is covered by Section 87 (1) of the Act, which is as follows:—
"A workman who has lost employment by reason of a stoppage of work which was due to a trade dispute at the factory, workshop, or other premises at which he was employed, shall be disqualified for receiving unemployment benefit so long as the stoppage of work continues, except in a case where he has, during the stoppage of work, become bonâ fide employed elsewhere in an insured trade.
Where separate branches of work which are commonly carried on as separate businesses in separate premises are in any case carried on in separate departments on the same premises, each of those departments shall, for the purposes of this provision, be deemed to be a separate factory or workshop or separate premises, as the case may be."
It will be observed that the disqualification under this Section is not limited to the workmen who are actually parties to the dispute. The decision on any particular claims rests ultimately with the Courts of 1256 Referees and the Umpire. Arrangements have been made to expedite their consideration in the present case.