HC Deb 20 September 1939 vol 351 cc943-5
41. Sir A. Knox

asked the Minister of Health whether any of the parents of children evacuated to the country are paying or making any contribution towards the 8s. 6d. per week paid by Government for the keep of their children in the reception areas?

Miss Horsbrugh

No recovery has yet been made from the parents of school children transferred to the reception areas, but, as my right hon. Friend informed the House in a Debate on the Adjournment on the 14th instant, it is the view of the Government, with which I believe all will agree, that parents in war, as in peace, should accept the primary responsibility of maintaining their children. It has been contemplated from the outset that parents of children who are evacuated in school units under the Government plan and for whose board and lodging and general welfare the householder is made responsible should be asked, where the family circumstances justify, to make a contribution towards the cost. Detailed arrangements are being worked out, and an announcement will be made in the near future.

Mr. George Griffiths

Will the hon. Lady see that the unemployed man will not be charged more for his child than what the Department are paying?

Miss Horsbrugh

I think the hon. Gentleman will see, when the arrangements are made, that all these points have been kept in mind.

Sir Henry Morris-Jones

Is my hon. Friend aware that there is a good deal of dissatisfaction in the reception areas at the figure of 8s. 6d., in view of the fact that the parents of the children and the children themselves often are a good deal better off than the people who are receiving them? Cannot the whole question be reconsidered?

Miss Horsbrugh

The question of the amount paid for billeting a child does not arise on this. The point here is that of getting from the parents something for the keep of the children.

Mr. R. C. Morrison

When fixing this charge will the hon. Lady bear in mind that many of the fathers and mothers have now a charge of round about 10s. or 12s. a week to pay if they want to see their children?

Miss Horsbrugh

If the hon. Gentleman will read the answer, I think he will see that all legitimate difficulties are to be considered.

Mr. J. J. Davidson

In regard to the arrangements which are being made by the Department, is the Opposition, or the Trades Union Congress, or the trade union movement being consulted?

Miss Horsbrugh

The question of the sum of money to be paid has been already settled. This question deals with the amount that the parents are to be asked to contribute towards the children's maintenance. The hon. Member will see that all matters are being taken into account, and very shortly a statement will be made. Then the hon. Gentleman will be able to put forward anything that he wishes to propose.

44. Mr. Graham White

asked the Minister of Health whether he has given consideration to the need for the provision of communal meals for men in evacuating areas who are unable to provide cooked meals for themselves?

Miss Horsbrugh

I have no information as to the extent to which a canteen system of meals would meet a real want among those whose wives have been transferred to receiving areas, but I understand that certain great voluntary organisations which are concerned to develop the canteen system to meet the needs of the troops, of civil defence workers, and of those whose domestic lives are dislocated by the war, are alive to this particular aspect of the problem with which they are dealing.

55. Mr. Pethick-Lawrence

asked the Minister of Health what steps he proposes to take to protect hotel keepers, boarding-house keepers and others in evacuated areas, whose business has largely disappeared and who have therefore no income available from which to meet their liabilities, including rent, at next quarter day?

Miss Horsbrugh

I do not think that the difficulties to which the right hon. Gentleman refers are attributable to the operation of the Government evacuation scheme, which was primarily concerned with the evacuation of children. On the general question, I would refer to the answer given by my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney-General to the Member for Don Valley (Mr. T. Williams) to-day.