54. Mr. KENNEDYasked the Minister of Labour if any recommendations or instructions have been issued to local employment committees regarding the fixing of a uniform scale of family income throughout the country, governing the payment of extended benefit to single persons residing with relatives, and to 1360 other insured persons; and, if it is not proposed to allow local committees to exercise their discretion in the fixing of scales of family income in accordance with local conditions, can he now give the House full particulars of any scales, if any, issued by the Ministry?
§ Sir A. STEEL-MAITLANDI would refer the hon. Member to the reply given on Wednesday last to the hon. Member for Bow and Bromley.
§ 57. Mr. LANSBURYasked the Minister of Labour whether he will inquire from the Employment Exchange committees in Birmingham, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Glasgow, Manchester, West Ham, and Kensington what amount of income, wages, or salary coming into a home where employed and unemployed relatives are living together is considered by these committees sufficient to enable them to decide that an unemployed man or woman, or short-time worker, should not receive extended benefit in accordance with the instructions issued by his Department to unemployment insurance officials and commit tees that extended benefit should not be paid to single persons living at home with parents who are in a position to maintain them, to married women or married men living with husbands or wives who are in work and whose earnings are sufficient to maintain wife or husband, or to short-time workers whose incomes are such that a refusal of benefit will not inflict hardship?
§ Sir A. STEEL-MAITLANDI am obliged to the hon. Member for his suggestion, which I will consider carefully.
§ Mr. LANSBURYIn view of the, relatively speaking, large number of young people and others who have to be maintained by relatives, is it not time to have some sort of arrangement by which the House will know what scale of income is considered to be the proper one for the maintenance of the unemployed relatives, not dependants?
§ Sir A. STEEL-MAITLANDThe situation is not quite so simple as the hon. Gentleman imagines, because circumstances differ so greatly that there ought to be considerable elasticity in dealing with these matters, and, for that reason, 1361 while we would like some uniformity in general principles, there must be some elasticity in making suggestions in regard to them.