§ 12 and 13. Mr. Hollinsasked the Minister of Labour (r) whether he is aware that there is much ambiguity and variation in the Umpire's decisions with regard to holiday pay and its effect on claims for unemployment benefit; and whether he will make an investigation into these decisions with a view to clarifying them and making them more uniform where the cases are similar in character;
(2) whether he is aware that: a number of cases of hardship have arisen out of, the payment of holiday money to the operatives in the pottery industry; whether he will consider amending the employment exchange regulations with regard to the continuity of signatures and the 12-days' rule, so as not to preclude recipients of holiday pay from the advantages of the above regulations; and whether he will consider the issuing of 550 regulations to the effect that unemployment benefit should only be suspended pro rata with the amount of holiday pay received for the holiday period?
§ Mr. E. BrownI cannot agree that there is any ambiguity or lack of consistency in the Umpires' decisions on this subject, nor can I interfere with them in any way. It is true, however, that, largely owing to the absence of express statutory provisions on the subject, the details of this law are somewhat complicated. The matter cannot be dealt with by regulations, and it may become necessary in due course to propose some legislative enactment; but this cannot usefully be done before the Committee considering the question of holidays with pay has made its report.