§ 6. Mr. McKayasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance how many applicants there were for unemployment benefit for the year ended 31st March, 1959; what was the total amount of unemployment benefit and the total amount of National Assistance received by them; and if he will consider establishing a special redundancy fund for the unemployed, to be financed by employers, including Government Departments and local authorities, by means of a special weekly contribution, in relation to each of their employees.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterIn the year ended 31st March, 1959, there were 3,612,000 claims for unemployment benefit and it is estimated that the number of persons claiming benefit in the year was just over 2 million. The total amount of unemployment benefit paid was £49½ million and the total amount of national assistance paid to persons receiving unemployment benefit was £2¾ million out of £17¼ million paid through employment exchanges.
Special provision for redundancy, such as the hon. Member suggests, would be, of course, quite outside the National Insurance scheme, and is in my view more appropriately a matter for industry itself.
§ Mr. McKayI understand from the National Assistance annual report that about 66,000 people were receiving insurance benefit and had to apply for National Assistance and that it cost the National Assistance Board about £3,600,000. While the Government may think that it is a matter for each industry, is there not a tendency in the country now to believe that there should be a national scheme to meet the redundancy problem? Is it not a national responsibility? Surely the problem will grow and the demand will become greater as time goes on, because we had about 40,000 more unemployed in January than previously.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterI do not think I can add anything to my main answer. As I said, special schemes in connection with particular industries are, in our view, more appropriately matters for those industries themselves.
§ 7. Mr. McKayasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what would have been the additional amount available for unemployment benefit if an extra 1s. per week had been contributed by employers in respect of each of their employees, in the year ended 31st March, or the calendar year 1959.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterThe yield of an increase of 1s. in employers' National Insurance contributions would be about £50 million a year.
§ Mr. McKayI am taking the ordinary figure of 24 million people available, and 1s. would bring in about £60 million. 6 Thus, if there were 400,000 unemployed, this would provide a redundancy payment of £3 a week to each individual. If there were 500,000 unemployed, it would provide about £2 8s. a week each. [Laughter.] I do not know what the laughs are about. If hon. Gentlemen opposite were redundant for about six weeks and received only £4 a week they would not laugh so much. This idea may seem laughable at the moment, but the people who are unemployed do not laugh at these things. They feel that this is a national necessity. [HON. MEMBERS: "Speech."] If it can be done in some industries, why cannot it be done nationally, because it is a national problem?
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterIn the first place, I disagree a little with the hon. Gentleman's figures. What I think is more important, however, is that it seems to be inherent in his suggestion that an increase in National Insurance contributions should be allotted solely to an increase in unemployment benefit, ignoring at the same time the old, the sick and the widows, and that is not a suggestion that I am prepared to accept.