§ THE EARL OF DARTMOUTH rose to ask His Majesty's Government "whether the Commissioners of the Insurance Act will issue for the guidance of public bodies, such as lunatic asylums, &c., model rules as adopted by Government Departments in dealing with their own employees under the Insurance Act." The noble Earl said: This Question also deals with public bodies, but I hope I shall not be understood to have desired to draw any comparison between lunatic asylums and the Departments of the Government. I merely instance lunatic asylums as employing a good many people, and it does seem to me that it would help public bodies of that character very materially if the Government, who, of course, have to deal with their own employees in much the same way, would draw up a set of simple rules which would assist them in making their regulations.
THE EARL OF LIVERPOOLIn order that local authorities can come under the same conditions as obtain in the case of Crown employees, the provision made for the sickness or disablement of the local authorities employees must be certified by the Commissioners to be on the whole as good as that made in the Act. A Committee has recently investigated the case of Crown employees and recommended as to what terms of employment will satisfy this condition. The Committee's Report has been laid before Parliament and has also been sent to the local authorities to serve as a guide to them. In addition, the Insurance Commissioners have written to representative bodies, like the County Councils Associations, giving as examples cases in which certificates of exemption have been granted to local authorities for their police force, asylum officers, &c.; and, further, the Commissioners have given every assistance in their power in personal interviews with officers and representatives of local authorities.