HC Deb 20 May 1941 vol 371 cc1395-6
59. Miss Eleanor Rathbone

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in view of the Notice of Motion down in the names of over 150 Members of Parliament of all parties favouring a national State scheme of family allowances, he will cause an estimate to be prepared of the approximate cost of such a scheme at the rate of 5s. weekly for every child under 15 years of age in the United Kingdom, on the assumption that the gross cost would be reduced to the extent of the provision already made out of State or local government funds for such children, through rebates on Income Tax, or through allow- ances directly paid on behalf of children of men in the Armed Forces, of war pensioners, of civilian widows, of persons coming under unemployment insurance or under the Assistance Board or the public assistance authorities, or for evacuated children, or any other relevant provision; and, if the figures under any of these headings are unobtainable, will he indicate the factors omitted?

[That this House would welcome the introduction of a national State-paid scheme of allowances for dependent children, payable to their mothers or acting guardians, as a means of safeguarding the health and well-being of the rising generation; this House urges His Majesty's Government to give immediate consideration to the formulation of such a scheme.]

Sir K. Wood

An estimate is being prepared of the cost of paying an allowance of 5s. a week in respect of every child under 15 in the United Kingdom. It is uncertain how far a complete estimate could be made of the extent to which the cost would be reduced on the assumptions made in the latter part of the Question, but the matter is being immediately investigated and I will inform my hon. Friend in due course.

Mr. MacLaren

Does that mean that the Government are entertaining this farmyard conception of breeding people in this country?