§ 66. Mr. BATEYasked the President of the Board of Education the total amount paid from the Lord Mayor's Fund for industrial transference, training and maintenance; or any other purpose apart from the relief of distress?
§ The PRESIDENT of the BOARD of EDUCATION (Lord Eustace Percy)The total amount paid from the Lord Mayor's Fund for services other than the provision of boots, clothing and food, which constitute the main purposes to which it is at present being devoted, is £16,927.
§ 67. Mr. LANSBURYasked the President of the Board of Education the total amount which the public has subscribed to the fund for relief in certain distressed areas and the amount paid to the fund 1398 by the Treasury; how much of the fund has been disbursed to date, and the amount each district has received; what scale or scales of assistance it has been decided to grant; whether assistance is granted for the burial expenses of those whose relatives are too poor to pay such costs; how many committees have been established for administering the relief the public has so readily subscribed to pay for; and will he say on what date the fund was opened?
§ Lord E. PERCYAs the answer to this question is very long, and in view of the hour, perhaps the hon. Member will allow me to circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Following is the answer:
§ Up to the 1st February the total amount subscribed by the public to the Lord Mayor's Fund was, approximately, £625,000; the amount paid into the fund from the Exchequer was £150,000; and the amount paid out of the fund £216,277, divided as follows:
| £ | |
| South Wales | 94,250 |
| Durham and Northumberland | 78,100 |
| West Riding | 7,500 |
| Lancashire and Cheshire | 7,500 |
| Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire | 5,000 |
| Somerset and Gloucestershire (including Forest of Dean) | 4,000 |
| Cumberland | 2,000 |
| Various approved organisations | 17,927 |
§ These figures do not include the liabilities incurred by the fund in respect of school feeding in Durham, Northumberland and South Wales, or the distribution of clothing and other goods in kind. I understand that further payments are about to be made to the divisional committees at Cardiff and Newcastle.
§ The question of scales of assistance does not, of course, arise in connection with the distribution of boots and clothing or the feeding of school children. It only arises in connection with the arrangements for the supply of supplementary nourishment to adults in Northumberland, Durham and South Wales which the Lord Mayor was asked to undertake when the Government grant was made. For this, no scales of assistance have yet been laid down, except that provisionally, pending the organisation of the local committees, the maternity and child welfare authorities in South Wales were invited to arrange 1399 for supplementary nourishment for mothers by the issue of vouchers on local tradesmen up to 2s. 6d. a week. In Northumberland and Durham £6,000 was placed at the disposal of the medical officers of health of the two counties for the same purpose, for use at their discretion. I understand that a communication will shortly be addressed to the local committees in these areas instituting more permanent arrangements.
§ I am informed that no application has been made that the fund should be available to meet burial expenses.
§ Divisional committees have been set up to control the operations of the fund in all the distressed mining areas except the South Midland group, the organisation of which will be completed in the near future.
§ Forty-six local committees are operating in distressed districts in the South Wales area and 55 in Durham and Northumberland. In coalfields which have more recently been brought within the area of application of the fund, the formation of local committees is proceeding. It is not possible at present to state the final number of such committees.
§ The Lord Mayor's Fund was opened on 2nd April, 1928.