§ Question proposed, That the Clause stand part of the Bill.
§ Mrs. Lena JegerAgain, I need a little clarification from the Minister.
Clause 11 provides that the Commission may require a person to be registered for employment in order to qualify for benefits under the Bill. I am anxious to know what kinds of considerations will be in the mind of the Commission in determining whether one person or another shall be required to register for employment. I am thinking particularly of the case of a woman who is the sole supporter of her children. She may be an unmarried mother or a deserted or separated wife whose husband has not been brought within the beneficent effects of the attachment of earnings legislation. For a woman with two or three small children to have to register for employment when there is little likelihood of her obtaining employment is rather unrealistic.
I am anxious to know whether the Commission will have the right to take such personal circumstances into account and, in certain cases, to exempt such people from the necessity for employment registration.
§ The Joint Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance (Mr. Harold Davies)The simple answer to my hon. Friend is that it is envisaged that the Commission, as the Board does at present, will only require the registration of persons who are in the employment' field. Persons like those mentioned by my hon. Friend, who are unfit or who are mothers of children of school age, will not be required to register.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Clause ordered to stand part of the Hill.