§ 6. Mr. Lawsonasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance which regulation lays it down that capital assets disregarded in National Assistance assessments shall be periodically inspected and a limit placed upon the amount of such capital that may be treated as income before incurring a reduction in National Assistance supplementation.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterNo regulation is, of course, required to enable the Board to carry out its duty of checking from time to time that a person's need of assistance is correctly assessed under the National Assistance (Determination of Need) Regulations, in relation to his current resources. If the hon. Member will let me have particulars of any case in which he thinks that a person's capital assets are not being correctly dealt with, I will ask the National Assistance Board to make inquiries.
§ Mr. LawsonThe Minister has not answered my question. I am asking whether he approves of or knows of a regulation which states that capital which has been assessed shall be regularly inspected and a limit placed on the amount which can be spent? Is the Minister aware that this practice goes on, and does he approve of it?
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterThe hon. Gentleman did not listen to my Answer, which began with the words, "No regulation…" Secondly, the method of dealing with expenditure by the assisted person to which he took exception four years ago—as he may recall—is one which has been very substantially modified.