§ Mr. Oliverasked the Minister of Labour whether his attention has been drawn to the hardships caused by the inclusion, for the purpose of calculating family incomes in respect of the means test, of lump sums paid to injured workmen by way of compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Act; and whether, in view of the fact that these commutated sums represent the loss of earning capacity, both present and future, of injured workmen, and are not savings or interest on investments, he will consider discontinuing assessing these settlements for the purposes of relief of unemployment existing in the households of these workmen?
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§ Lieut.-Colonel MuirheadI would remind the hon. Member that the special nature of these lump sum payments has already been recognised by the board so that one-half is treated as required for the special needs or personal requirements of the holder. If the holder is other than the applicant or the applicant's husband, wife, father or mother, the balance is taken into account only in so far as the actual income derived from it, together with any other available resources, exceeds the amount of the scale rates of the holder and his dependants. In other cases the balance of one-half is regarded as producing an income of 1s. per week for each £25 in excess of the first £25.