§ 22. Mr. HAYDAYasked the Minister of Labour whether, in view of the inconvenience caused to associations administering unemployment insurance benefit through the delay in repayment from the Treasury, he will take the opportunity provided by the Unemployment Insurance Bill to obtain power to grant money in advance to these associations, as is done in the case of approved societies under National Health Insurance?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAI may explain that the policy of entrusting to associations the administration of State unemployment benefit has been based on the assumption that the associations desiring to adminis- 1347 ter State benefit would be in a position to meet the financial obligations accruing between the actual disbursement of benefit to the unemployed member and the repayment by the Ministry of the amount so disbursed, and until recently the associations have not, so far as I am aware, experienced any difficulty in this connection. I am prepared, however, during the present emergency to make special arrangements for dealing expeditiously with the weekly returns of unemployment on which the repayments are based, and this will, I hope, enable associations to tide over their present difficulties.