§ 4. Mr. Gallacherasked the Minister of Labour whether he will arrange that decisions of the unemployment insurance umpire in cases appealed on behalf of militiamen from the hardship committees shall be published as soon as they become available without delay; how many such appeals have so far gone to the umpire; how many of his decisions have been favourable to the appellant; and in how many cases have the hardship committees themselves referred cases to the umpire and upon what issues?
§ Mr. E. BrownDecisions by the umpire in leading cases under the Military Training Act will be published monthly in the same manner as decisions under the Unemployment Insurance Acts. Seventy-eight appeals have been sent to the umpire up to 15th July, but no decisions have yet been given. As regards the last part of the question, the Act does not provide for the reference of cases to the umpire by the hardship committees.
§ Mr. GallacherIn view of the number of cases of hardship, will the right hon. Gentleman publish a statement showing how the Regulations are working and make some proposals for amending them?
§ Mr. BrownMy answer shows that while we are dealing with 350,000 persons, of which more than 50,000 have 694 been called up, there have been 78 appeals, of which 50 are on my behalf, and 28 of individual applicants. It shows that it is working very well.
§ Mr. GallacherDoes not the right hon. Gentleman recognise that there are actually at the moment some very hard cases and that a great deal of needless suffering is resulting from the operation of the Act?