§ Sir J. Mellorasked the Minister of Health whether he has made any recent estimate of the average cost to householders per child of carrying out their obligations in respect of evacuated children billeted upon them; whether he will draw a comparison between such estimate and previous estimates; is he satisfied that the allowances payable to householders are sufficient to cover their obligatory expenditure on account of billeted children; and whether he intends to propose any change in the rates of such allowances?
§ Mr. ElliotThe answer to the first part of the Question is in the negative. I am satisfied that the allowances are in general sufficient for the purpose mentioned in the third part of the Question, and I would not, therefore, feel justified in proposing that they should be generally increased.
Miss Rathboneasked the Minister of Health how many unaccompanied children were evacuated, and how many had returned up to 8th January, from each of the following towns: Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle-on-Tyne and Sheffield?
§ Mr. ElliotThe return of 8th January was obtained from the receiving areas and does not distinguish individual evacuating areas. The estimated numbers for these seven towns are, however, as follow:
Evacuation Area. Number of unaccompanied children. Evacuated Returned to evacuation area. Birmingham 25,241 11,000 Liverpool 60,795 23,000 Leeds 18,935 8,500 London 241,500 79,500 Manchester 66,300 41,000 Newcastle on Tyne 28,300 14,000 Sheffield 5,338 3,500