HC Deb 14 November 1928 vol 222 cc874-7
30. Mr. DAY

asked the Minister of Labour whether his attention has been called to the case of Herbert William Millard, a saw-mill machinist, of Ethelred Street, Kennington, who committed suicide in August, 1928, after having been refused unemployment benefit at the Walworth Road, Borough, Exchange; whether he can state the reason for the refusal of this man's unemployment benefit; are precautions taken at this Exchange to inform applicants, where benefit has been refused, that they have the right to appeal; and whether any facilities were given to this man to exercise this right?

Sir A. STEEL-MAITLAND

Mr. Millard's claim to benefit was disallowed by the Insurance Officer on the statutory ground that he was not genuinely seeking work. He was notified of the disallowance on 10th August. The form notifying disallowance, of which I am sending the hon. Member a copy, contains special mention of the right of appeal. This form was sent to Mr. Millard.

Mr. DAY

Is it not a fact that this man has continuously been employed for 15 years, that he was only out of work for 22 weeks, and that this is the second case in which unemployment insurance has been refused where men have been compelled to commit suicide?

Sir A. STEEL-MAITLAND

I am not aware of those circumstances. What I looked into was the question which the hon. Member put to me, which was with regard to the right of appeal, and the right of appeal is quite clearly stated on the form which was sent to him.

Mr. KELLY

Did the Exchange authorities offer employment of any kind to this man in order to test whether he was genuinely desirous of work?

Sir A. STEEL-MAITLAND

If the hon. Member will put down a question, I will make inquiries.

Mr. DAY

Is it not a fact that tin Exchange authorities found him work for nine weeks as a labourer and, after that time, made him register again, and then complained that he was not genuinely seeking employment?

Sir A. STEEL-MAITLAND

If the hon. Member wishes for that information, I will make inquiries.

Several HON. MEMBERS

rose—

Mr. SPEAKER

A supplementary question is not justified if it is put in order to widen the scope of the original question. It must be confined simply to the object of further elucidating the answer that has been given.

Mr. MACLEAN

That is not the purpose of my supplementary question. I wish to ask the right hon. Gentleman why he has not replied to the part of the question as to whether he can state the reason for the refusal of this man's unemployment benefit? Did the local employment exchange go into all the facts of this man's case, and had he already accepted a job offered by that exchange?

Sir A. STEEL-MAITLAND

I had the case gone into, and I was informed that it was impossible to go further than the steps that have already been taken.

Mr. MACLEAN

Then, will the right hon. Gentleman make further inquiries into the matter, because when a man has taken his life—the second case from the same employment exchange—does that not show that there is something very loose in the administration there? The right hon. Gentleman is not doing his duty if he does not look into the matter.

33. Mr. WELLOCK

asked the Minister of Labour the number of persons who were refused benefit during each of the first three quarters of the present year, and the number of such refusals that occurred on the gound that the applicants were not genuinely seeking work?

Sir A. STEEL-MAITLAND

As the reply includes a number of figures, I will, with the hon. Member's permission, circulate a statement in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Mr. WELLOCK

May we have the figures for the last quarter?

Sir A. STEEL-MAITLAND

Disallowances by the insurance officer from the 10th July to the 8th October show a total of 127,492, and 55,257 on the ground of not genuinely seeking work. In addition, during the period from 18th April to the 8th October there were claims also reviewed by the Courts of Referees, but in order to appreciate this I should like the hon. Member to read the whole of the answer.

Following is the statement:

In the period up to 18th April, 1928, claims to benefit were dealt with partly by Local Employment Committees and partly by the Insurance Officer, Courts of Referees and Umpire; since 18th April the Local Employment Committees have ceased to deal with claims.

Number of disallowances.
Period. By Local Employment Committees. By Insurance Officer.
Total. On ground of not making reasonable efforts to obtain employment. Total. On grounds of not genuinely seeking work.
17th January–18th April … 126,717 35,861 — —
1st January–18th April … — — 86,499 23,013
19th April–9th July … — — 163,121 39,500
10th July–8th October … — — 127,492 55,257

In some of these cases the decisions were reversed on appeal.

In addition, during the period 18th April to 8th October, 239,315 claims were reviewed by the Courts of Referees after receipt of 78 days' benefit in six months. Of these claims 10,799 were disallowed, including 10,592 disallowed on the ground of not genuinely seeking work.

Statistics are not available regarding the number of separate individuals represented in these figures.