§ 12. Wing-Commander Cooperasked the Minister of Health if he is able to say what the response is in various parts of the country to the request for sharing accommodation in houses with returning Servicemen and their families; and does he contemplate making further public appeals or any inducements, in order to increase the response.
§ Mr. BevanI would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the reply given to my hon. and gallant Friend, the Member for Wycombe (Flight-Lieutenant Haire), on 7th February, of which I am sending him a copy.
§ Wing-Commander CooperIs my right hon. Friend aware that people in receipt of old age pensions are sometimes discouraged from letting accommodation in their homes because of the means test, and is there any step he could take to alter the regulations to enable them to let?
§ Mr. BevanI understand that the Assistance Board interprets the Regulations in these case.; very generously, but it is extremely difficult to make a distinction between an old age pensioner who has taken people in after the appeal, and old age pensioners who took in people before the appeal. The administrative complexities involved are almost insuperable.