§ Mr. THOMAS DAVIESasked the Minister of Health whether a person insured under the National Insurance Act, on going into a workhouse, becomes chargeable to the common fund of the union, while the latter gets no part of the sick benefit due to the member; and, if this is so, can it be altered?
§ Dr. ADDISONThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. Under Section 12 of the National Insurance Act, 1911, as amended by subsequent Acts, no part of any benefit due in respect of the period of an insured person's residence in a Poor Law institution is payable to the Guardians, and it is also provided by Section III of the Act that there can be no assignment of, or charge on any of the benefits, which, it will be remembered, are provided out of contributions compulsorily paid by insured persons and their employers. The Guardians have, however, their ordinary powers of recovery of the whole or part of the cost of maintenance where the circumstances appear to them to justify such a course.