§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
§ LORD NATHANMy Lords, I rise to move that this Bill be read a second time. It is a Bill to give effect to an agreement between the Treasury and the Minister of Finance for Northern Ireland. It has to be ratified or confirmed both by this Parliament and by the Parliament of Northern Ireland, and when so confirmed it will come into effect as from April 1 last. It is one of a series of enactments covering a series of agreements, known as reinsurance agreements, between Great Britain and the Government of Northern Ireland, and it relates to adjustments in regard to unemployment and family allowances. It will be necessary to have a comprehensive Bill at a later stage confirming the later agreements when the various social security Acts or Bills of this Parliament become effective in 1948, so that this Bill should be regarded as an interim measure for the purposes of making these adjustments. Parliament has given assent to a series of similar adjustments in Bills since 1926. I beg to move.
§ Moved, That the Bill be now read 2a.—(Lord Nathan.)
§ On Question, Bill read 2a, and Committed to a Committee of the Whole House.