HC Deb 20 June 1921 vol 143 cc900-1
84. Mr. CAUTLEY

asked the Minister of Health whether a chaplain employed by a board of guardians at a salary of £60 per annum is excluded from the benefits of the National Health Insurance Acts and made ineligible for membership of an approved society by employment under the Local and Public Authorities Order, 1914; and, if so, whether he will take steps to have the Order repealed which inflicts such hardship on a deserving and poorly paid class of the community?

Sir A. MOND

The High Court decided in 1912 that curates in the Church of England and certain other ministers of religion were not employed under a contract of service and were therefore outside the scope of compulsory insurance. There is not, in my view, good ground for placing a chaplain to a board of guardians in a different position.