ASSISTANCE.

HC Deb 18 November 1937 vol 329 cc541-7

1. Mr. F. Anderson

asked the Minister of Labour how many persons are receiving assistance and payment from the Unemployment Assistance Board due to their suffering from silicosis in the districts of Whitehaven, Cleator Moor, Egremont, and Millom areas; and what were the amounts paid out during the last 12 months?

The Minister of Labour (Mr. Ernest Brown)

I regret that information is not available as to the number of persons who though capable of work and in receipt of unemployment assistance are suffering from silicosis.

3. Mr. Short

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will inquire why certain unemployed men who were offered and accepted work on the by-pass road at Hampole, near Adwick-le-Street. Doncaster, were refused the supply of suitable boots by the Unemployment Assistance Board?

Mr. Brown

I am informed by the Unemployment Assistance Board that the two men who, I understand, are referred to in the hon. Member's question started work on Monday, 11th October. Application for a special grant was made late on the previous Friday. The case was not one in which the Board's officer would have felt justified in making a grant, but before the necessary inquiries could be completed the men had obtained what they required from another source and had commenced full-time employment.

Mr. Short

Is the Minister aware that the men purchased the boots themselves out of their rent?

4. Mr. J. J. Davidson

asked the Minister of Labour the total number of unemployed persons in Glasgow that have suffered reductions since the standstill allowances were departed from, and the total amount of such reductions?

Mr. Brown

In the Unemployment Assistance Board's administrative district of Glasgow I, there were on 17th September last 1,346 applicants receiving allowances which has been reduced by way of adjustment of standstill arrangements, otherwise than on account of personal earnings, the average reduction in those cases is estimated to have been approximately 2s. a week.

Mr. Davidson

May I ask the Minister to take note that in the question I asked him to give the total amount of such reductions?

Mr. Brown

I cannot. I have given the hon. Member what figures I have on this matter.

Mr. Davidson

Have not those reductions been increasing in number during the past three months, and how long does the Minister think it will take before the estimate of £40,000 for public assistance for the unemployed of Glasgow will be reached?

Mr. Brown

I must not be taken for one second as accepting that estimate. Perhaps the hon. Member would like to put down a comprehensive question asking for the results in terms of increases and decreases. There would then, I think, be a very different story to tell.

Mr. Lawson

Cannot the Minister give us the total amount of the reductions, and not the average reduction?

Mr. Brown

I do not think it could be done without an undue amount of labour. There were 1,346 applicants on 17th September. I have given the average amount, and hon. Members can work it out for themselves.

Mr. Davidson

The Minister stated the figure of 2s. per person; how can he strike the average if he does not know the total?

Mr. Brown

Because I know the class of case.

7. Mr. James Griffiths

asked the Minister of Labour the total number of applications made by recipients of unemployment assistance for increases in their allowances in consequence of the increased cost of living; how many such applications have been granted and how many rejected; what is the average increase granted in the amount of the allowance; and what is the aggregate amount of such weekly increases?

Mr. Brown

The instruction issued by the Unemployment Assistance Board to which I referred in my reply to the hon. Member on 21st October requires that all cases on the Board's register shall be considered as they fall due for review, and the determinations adjusted where the circumstances warrant. Separate applications by individuals are, therefore, not necessary, and no information is available as to the extent to which such applications have, in fact, been made. The task of reviewing cases for the first time after issue of the Board's instruction is in progress, and statistics of the kind referred to in the last part of the hon. Member's question are not yet available.

8. Mr. J. Griffiths

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that applicants for unemployment assistance at Talgarth, Breconshire, are made subject to a reduction of 2s. per week on the ground that it is a rural area; that rents and prices at Talgarth approximate more to an industrial than a rural area, and whether he will make representations to the Unemployment Assistance Board on the matter; that the nearest area office of the board is 25 miles distant from Talgarth; and whether he will take steps to establish an office nearer to this district?

Mr. Brown

These adjustments have been made after consideration of recommendations by the local advisory committee. It is open to any applicant who is aggrieved by a decision in his case to lodge an appeal with the Appeal Tribunal, and I understand that one of the 12 applicants at Talgarth, affected by these adjustments, has exercised this right. With regard to the last part of the question, in view of the very small number of applicants in and around Talgarth the Board do not see their way to establish an office in the neighbourhood. All applicants in the area are visited regularly in their homes by a local officer of the Board, they apply for allowances and sign the register at a local office of the Ministry, and receive payment of their allowances by post. The Board see no reason to suppose that the interests of the applicants are in any way prejudiced by the present arrangements.

Mr. Griffiths

Before an area like Talgarth is scheduled as a rural area for the purposes of unemployment policy, is close investigation made into the rents that are paid, and will the right hon. Gentleman make such inquiries to discover whether the rents and other payments in Talgarth are upon a rural standard, or whether they approximate more closely to an industrial standard?

Mr. Brown

If the hon. Member cares to discuss the matter with me, I will give him information to show that the problem was discussed by the advisory committee.

10. Mr. Leonard

asked the Minister of Labour the number of insured persons receiving statutory benefit and who, in addition, have qualified on needs for payments from the Unemployment Assistance Board, with separate figures for England and Wales, Scotland and Glasgow?

Mr. Brown

In the week ended 29th October, 1937, allowances from the Unemployment Assistance Board in supplementation of payments of unemployment insurance benefit were paid to 3,320 persons in Great Britain including 3,177 in England and Wales, 143 in Scotland and 57 in Glasgow.

Mr. Leonard

Does the Minister consider that persons drawing statutory benefit are sufficiently aware that they can apply for supplementary benefit?

Mr. Brown

This question will help to widen the area of knowledge.

Mr. Leonard

Could the Minister not give it publicity throughout the medium of the Employment Exchanges in order to make it more prominent?

Mr. Brown

I think the facts are well-known.

17. Mr. T. Smith

asked the Minister of Labour the number of persons in receipt of allowances from the Unemployment Assistance Board in the district covered by the Pontefract area office at the latest date available, and the comparative figures for 1936?

Mr. Brown

During the week ended 29th October, 1937, 2,660 payments of unemployment assistance allowances (excluding payments in supplementation of insurance benefit) were made at the Employment Exchanges serving the district covered by the Pontefract area office. The corresponding figure for the week ended 30th October, 1936, was 4,230.

18. Mr. Neil Maclean

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that officials of the Unemployment Assistance Board in Glasgow are refusing to recognise women who are legally separated from their husbands as being dependants eligible for inclusion in the husband's unemployment assistance allowance, even when the women have obtained a court order for maintenance against their husband; whether he will state the clause of the Act, regulation, circular, or instruction issued by the Board which authorises such treatment; and whether, in view of the additional cost which this practice places upon the local authorities, he will take steps to have this matter altered?

Mr. Brown

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Blaydon (Mr. Whiteley) on 22nd July last, of which I am sending him a copy.

Mr. Maclean

Is it the intention to carry on this practice, seeing that it throws added responsibility and expense upon the local authorities?

Mr. Brown

I expressed my view on that point in the answer to which I have referred the hon. Member.

19. Mr. Maclean

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that P. Kelly, 44, Harmony Road, Govan, was entitled to three days Unemployment Assistance Board's allowance in respect of the pay week in which he became 65 years of age; that the local Unemployment Assistance Board officials calculated his weekly allowance as covering seven days and paid him only three-sevenths of the allowance for the week instead of one-half; whether this method is generally adopted in similar cases; and whether he will arrange that the allowances be calculated on a six-day week in conformity with payments made to those on standard unemployment?

Mr. Brown

I am informed by the Unemployment Assistance Board that inquiry is being made. I will communicate with the hon. Member in due course.

Mr. Maclean

Why should inquiry be made when this question is based upon a reply received from the area committee of the Unemployment Assistance Board in Govan to the effect that this is actually being done? If the Minister himself does not know that seven days are worked out in order to allocate the allowance, he ought to know, without requiring to ask the Board for the information. I ask for an answer to my question now as to whether this is not actually happening?

Mr. Brown

The hon. Member may ask for an answer now, but I have told him that I am making inquiry. When he raises this point, it is the proper course for the Minister to have the matter reexamined in the light of the question which has been put down.

Mr. Gallacher

Does not the Minister know that the period taken into consideration should be six days, and not seven?

Mr. Brown

We will see what the facts are.

Mr. Maclean

On a point of Order. I understand that regulations were brought in and discussed and passed by this House, setting out the manner in which these things should be done; and, seeing that the Minister has been in office for some years, ought he not to know the method by which this allowance is being applied, and whether the period is six days or seven days?

Mr. Speaker

That is not a question for me to answer.

22. Mr. Joel

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will take steps to secure that in cases of re-employment of a man on casual work, his first week's salary shall be omitted from consideration in any subsequent assessment of means by the public assistance authority concerned?

Mr. Brown

I understand that the form of casual employment which my hon. Friend has in mind is employment as polling clerk. So far as public assistance is concerned, my hon. Friend should address his question to my right hon. Friend the Minister of Health. As regards unemployment assistance, the Board inform me that their practice in such cases is to allow the applicant 10s. or one-half of his earnings (whichever is the greater) for personal requirements. This is more than is normally allowed in respect of casual employment, and the Board do not see their way to make a further relaxation.