§
Resolution reported,
That it is expedient to authorise the payment out of moneys provided by Parliament of any expenses incurred by the Minister of Labour under any Act of the present Session to provide for the amendment, in relation to certain classes of persons, of the enactments relating to unemployment insurance with a view to the elimination of anomalies in the operation of those enactments, and to provide for facilitating the removal of workers and their dependants from one place to another.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That this House doth agree with the Committee in the said Resolution."
§ 11.0 p.m.
§ Mr. CHARLES WILLIAMSI should like to know the amount that is expected to be required during the next year for the removal of workers from one place to another. I am not quarrelling with that. On the whole it will probably be well spent. But I should like to have some assurance that there will be no hindrance in the way of transferring these people by any section of the community. The point I really wish to raise is what is going to be the actual cost of the Advi- 2419 sory Committee. These committees, particularly when they come to some size, have an inconvenient habit of being very expensive. In the Memorandum it is said it is not likely to exceed £500, and we have had, as far as I can find out, no further explanation as to the amount that the Committee will cost. It is clearly intended that it should be covered by the Resolution. On what ground can you base any estimate in the nature of £500? I can remember very low estimates from time to time as to the cost of these committees. As an illustration I might give the case of the Mining Committee, which it was thought was going to be very low, but someone woke up and found that there was one official costing £7,500. I hope that nothing of that sort will come out in this advisory committee. We know that the Government have to pay the cost of any loss of time that the men and women concerned suffer, and that there must be some secretarial assistance. Loss of time might easily cost hundreds of pounds, and there will not be much of the £500 left to pay for the considerable secretarial work. I do not expect the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour to be able to give full details, but the First Lord is here, and, if he is deputising for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, he might give us some information. Or perhaps the Financial Secretary to the Treasury will be willing to help?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the MINISTRY of LABOUR (Mr. Lawson)The hon. Member has put quite legitimate questions. First there is the cost, by way of grants or loans, for payment of the fares of men and women who travel from one part of the country to another in order to take up work. This proposal is simply regularizing what has been the practice over a course of years. The fact is that this money was passed through the Appropriation Act in past years, and the Public Accounts Committee were never satisfied with that method. There are certainly precedents which lay it down that it was rather a questionable constitutional practice to take the money in that way for the payment of these fares. So the Public Accounts Committee insisted, during the last year or so, that the matter should 2420 be regularized. This proposal is simply to regularize what has been the practice for the last few years.
There never has been any hesitation or doubt on the part of Members on this side in respect to the payment of these fares, and if it was necessary, and if time permitted, it would be interesting to the House to know the large sum, given by way of loan or grant for the fares of men and women who travel from one part of the country to the other, which is repaid by the people concerned. Those who know the facts are very much encouraged, and the facts are a tribute to the moral of the workers of this country. Whereas in the early stages of the unemployment difficulties it was difficult for men to travel, now they have their train fares. This is simply to regularize what has been the practice, and it is a very good piece of work for the country to do. So far as the amount for the Advisory Committee is concerned, we have reason to believe that the estimate is on the right side. It may be that in the first place there will be a considerable number of meetings and that after the Committee gets its bearings there will be less expense.
§ Mr. C. WILLIAMSWill the chairman be a fully paid member?
§ Mr. LAWSONI could not answer that offhand. Three of the members will be representatives of the trade unions; three will be representatives of the employers and there will be men having other interests. You may take it that the estimate is on the right side, and it is the best we can do in the circumstances.
§ Question, "That this House doth agree with the Committee in the, said Resolution," put, and agreed to.