§ 29. Mr. MABANEasked the Minister of Labour what average figure of unemployment throughout the year is provided for by the original Estimate and Supplementary Estimate for the present financial year now approved for his Department?
§ Sir H. BETTERTONThe original Estimate was sufficient to cover a volume of unemployment roughly equivalent to that experienced last year, or, in round figures about 2,800,000. Since that Estimate was prepared there has, I am glad to say, been a substantial fall in the live register, but I thought it best to prepare the Supplementary Estimate on the same basis, particularly as it related almost entirely to transitional payments, which may not reflect very quickly the improvement in the general industrial situation.