§ BARONESS STOCKSMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will give the House an assurance that the family allowance will continue, as established in 1945, to be paid direct to the mother in her own right and without reference to the husband's income or taxable status.
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SECURITY (LORD ABERDARE)Yes, my Lords. If the noble Baroness has the tax credit scheme in mind, I would repeat the assurance given by my right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer that,
the Government will not adopt any arrangement which leaves mothers being paid less than they are at present.
§ BARONESS STOCKSMy Lords, that is not the Question. The Question is this. Will family allowance continue to be paid to the mother unconditionally by virtue of her service?
§ LORD ABERDAREMy Lords, family allowance will continue to be paid to the mother so long as family allowance continues.
§ BARONESS STOCKSMy Lords, to whom will that be paid?
§ LORD ABERDAREMy Lords, to the mother.
§ BARONESS STOCKSMy Lords, can we assume that from now on there will be no question of family allowance being 1834 paid to the mother by virtue of her husband's tax position or by virtue of anything but her own right to that allowance for her services as a mother?
§ LORD ABERDAREMy Lords, if the noble Baroness is talking about the family allowance as it exists at present, there is no change contemplated. If, on the other hand, she is talking about tax credits then I repeat the assurance given by my right honourable friend.
§ BARONESS STOCKSMy Lords, can I rest assured that the battle which Eleanor Rathbone fought and wan in 1945 is now not to be fought again and that the family allowance, or whatever it may be called, will be paid to the mother unconditionally in her own right?
§ LORD ABERDAREMy Lords, I can only repeat what I have already said, which means that mothers will not receive less in cash from child credits than they get from family allowances and that any child credits paid to the mother would go to all mothers, including the wives of the self-employed and those separated or divorced from their husbands.
§ BARONESS GAITSKELLMy Lords, I do not think the noble Lord got the Question right. We wish to know—and I support my noble friend in this one hundred per cent.—whether the money, the family allowance, is going to be paid to the mother in cash (and not by tax credits to her husband) to be collected at the Post Office?—because at present if she allows it to accumulate for more than three months she usually loses it.
§ Lord ABERDAREMy Lords, I would quote what my right honourable friend has said in this connection to a Conservative women's conference on May 23: that every mother who gets family allowance can look forward to drawing it weekly from the Post Office under the new scheme, just as at present.
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, the noble Lord might have saved the House a good deal of time if he had answered the original Question as he has now answered this supplementary.
§ LORD ABERDAREMy Lords, I think that I answered the original Question absolutely straightforwardly.
§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, having regard to the noble Lord's interest in the financial position of the housewife and the fact that wages are increasing every day, could the noble Lord give an undertaking that not only will the housewife receive this comparatively miserable small family allowance but that the Government are considering giving her a legal right to a share of the family income?
§ LORD ABERDAREMy Lords, that, I may say, is quite a different question. I could not answer that.
§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, is it a different question because what I am asking for is fair, and this miserable small amount that she now is to get is quite inequitable?
§ LORD ABERDAREMy Lords, it is a different question because it is not the Question on the Order Paper.