HC Deb 19 May 1922 vol 154 cc686-9W
Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHY

asked the Minister of Labour the amount of money expended to date by the Government in unemployment relief work, unemployment insurance, and other assistance for unemployed workpeople and demobilised ex-service men and women since the Armistice; whether he can give an estimate of the total expenditure by the local authorities of the Kingdom on the same form of relief for the same period; and what is the present weekly rate of expenditure by the Government and the local authorities on unemployment relief?

60 Dr. MACNAMARA

The following are the facts asked for by my hon. and gallant Friend:

I. Unemployment Relief Work.

As many of the schemes to which the Government has contributed are in progress, there is no complete central record of actual expenditure up to date. The figures below are therefore given in terms of grants indicated by the Government, together with corresponding sums which the local authorities were required to raise.

(a)Ministry of Transport—Arterial and other road work.

Grants indicated £6,200,000
Contribution by local authorities £6,200,000
£12,400,000

(b)Unemployment Grants Committee.

(i)Grants on basis ofper cent. of wages bill.

Grants allocated (deducting schemes which will not rank for grant) £2,630,000
Balance of cost to be paid by local authorities £6,353,000
£8,983,000

(ii)Loans Scheme.—In addition, capital expenditure to the amount of £17,238,000 has been approved for contribution towards the loan charges under the Loans Scheme.

(c)Agricultural Schemes

(i)Ministry of Agriculture—Land Drainage Schemes.

Maximum Commitments to date £388,000

Note.—Of this sum £113,000 is recoverable from Drainage Boards and landowners.

(ii)Ministry of Agriculture—Water Supply Schemes

Grants promised £9,600

The total cost of these schemes is estimated at £28,200, of which £18,600 is borne by landowners.

(iii)Scottish Board of Agriculture—Land Drainage Schemes

Grants sanctioned £21,000

Note.—This figure is approximately one-half of the total cost of the schemes.

(d)Forestry Commission

Estimated cost of approved unemployment schemes additional to normal estimates £206,000
Estimated expenditure to be incurred by landowners and local authorities on certain of these schemes 141,000
£347,000

(e)Office of Works

(i) Emergency schemes (winter, 1920–21) of decorating and repair work in Government Departments 77,000
(ii) Relief work—Royal Parks (winter, 1921–22) 50,000
£127,000

(f)Local Authorities

In addition to relief measures outlined above to which the Government have been contributing, local authorities throughout the country have instituted a substantial amount of relief work without Government assistance. Figures as to expenditure incurred in this way are not available, but returns received from local authorities show that throughout the last 18 months they have been employing between 8,000 and 10,000 men in this way. The present number reported to be so employed exceeds 10,000.

II. Unemployment Insurance, etc.

(a) Out-of-work Donation.
(i) Ex-service men and women £40,000,000
(ii) Civilians 22,000,000
(b) Unemployment Benefit (including dependants grants) 82,000,000
£144,000,000

III. Other forms of Assistance.

(a) Resettlement Training £26,692,000
(b) Civil Liabilities Grants 3,450,000
(c) Overseas Settlement 1,830,000

NOTE.—In addition, £375,000 was set aside from the National Relief Fund for this purpose.

IV. Other Measures.

In addition to the foregoing schemes the Government have instituted the following measures, namely:

(1) Trade Facilities Scheme.
Maximum sum the Treasury may guarantee for capital works £25,000,000
Guarantee given or sanctioned to date 16,752,000
(2) Export Credit Scheme.
Total sum set aside 26,000,000
Advances, guarantees and credits sanctioned 12,250,000
(3) Acceleration of Government Contracts.
Sum set aside by Government in autumn, 1921, for contract acceleration 563,000
(4) Land Settlement for ex-service men.
Expenditure by Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries 1,523,860
(5) Loans under the Land Facilities Act, 1919, made by the Public Works Loan Commissioners to County Councils for capital expenditure on small holdings for ex-service men 12,269,000

V. Out-door Relief.

It is impracticable to estimate with any precision the amount expended since the Armistice on outdoor relief of the unem- ployed. (See below, however, for present weekly expenditure.)

VI. Weekly Expenditure.

With the exception of unemployment benefit and out-door relief of the unemployed, the relief measures outlined above cannot be expressed in terms of weekly rate of expenditure. The present average weekly rate of expenditure on unemployment benefit is, however, approximately £1,100,000 and the corresponding figure for out-door relief of the unemployed is £247,000.