§ 10. Mr. Albuasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance whether he will consider the designation of specific industries undergoing drastic technical or economic change, with a view to increasing the amount and period of unemployment pay for workers forced to seek employment in other industries.
§ The Minister of Pensions and National Insurance (Mr. John Boyd-Carpenter)No, Sir. Unemployment benefit is an insurance benefit contributed to on an equal basis by all insured workers, and it would not be fair to vary the entitlement to benefit of one contributor as against another on the basis of the industry in which he has worked.
§ Mr. AlbuHas the Minister not consulted his right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour? Would he not agree that it is extremely important to encourage workers to move from contracting industries to expanding industries and from contracting areas of employment to expanding areas? Does the right hon. Gentleman not recognise that the present level of unemployment pay and its duration are a serious deterrent and that under the present conditions of growing unemployment we may be destroying the willingness to accept technical change?
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterI have a good deal of sympathy with what the hon. Member says in general, but he makes a mistake in feeling that the objects which he has in view are a function of National Insurance benefits.