§ 34. Lieut.-Colonel Sir Thomas Mooreasked the Minister of Health whether he will give the percentage of parents who arc contributing the full amount for the billeting of evacuated children, the percentage of those who are paying the minimum and the percentage of those who are paying nothing at all?
§ Mr. E. BrownA payment of 6s. per week for an unaccompanied evacuated 242 school child is accepted from the parents as a full recovery, although voluntary contributions of additional amounts are made. Parents unable to pay 6s. per week per child are assessed at lower figures arrived at by the application of a uniform scale, and parents in receipt of assistance pay nothing. Information giving the number of parents and the different rates per child which they pay is not available, and I do not feel justified in asking local authorities to undertake the analysis of their records which would be necessary to obtain it. The latest returns show that nearly 30 per cent. of the evacuated children are on "nil" assessments owing to the operation of the scale or because their parents are in receipt of assistance, and that the average payment in respect of the remainder is about 3s. per week.