§ 17. Mr. HICKSasked the Minister of Labour whether, under the Order-in-Council, an applicant who has been an insured contributor since 1912, and for the first time makes application for benefit and receives 26 weeks' benefit, will not be entitled to standard benefit again until he has 10 contributions paid in respect of him since the last week when he received his 156 days; and whether there was any estimated saving to the Unemployment Insurance Fund when it was proposed to insert this condition in the Order-in-Council; and, if so, the estimated saving to such fund?
§ Sir H. BETTERTONThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The total estimated saving arising out of the application of the needs test was given in the White Paper on Reductions in National Expenditure as £10,000,000 in a year, on the basis of an average live register of 3,000,000, but no separate figure was given for the effect of the 26 weeks' restriction on insurance benefit.
§ Captain Sir WILLIAM BRASSIs the saving due to the shortening of the period included in the £10,000,000?
§ Sir H. BETTERTONYes.