§ Sir H. Webbeasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he can give the figures of expenditure on public social services in 1939 and 1940?
§ Captain CrookshankYes, Sir. I append a statement giving the latest figures available for 1939 (or latest available year) and 1940. These should be compared with those published in the OFFICIAL REPORT for 5th February, 1941, in respect of 1938 and 1939.
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PUBLIC SOCIAL SERVICES. Total Expenditure under Certain Acts of Parliament. Other than expenditure out of loans for capital purposes or out of capital receipts. NOTE.—This Statement gives the expenditure on Public Social Services in 1939 and 1940, the latest years for which details are available, which would have been included in Part I of the return to be published in continuation of Command 5906 of November, 1938. Reference should be made to Command 5906 for comparable expenditure in earlier years and for information as to the basis on which the return is compiled, but it should be observed that the explanatory notes given in that return are not now accurate in all respects. Service England and Wales. Scotland. 1939 (or latest available year) Great Britain. Total number of persons directly benefiting from the expenditure included in Column 5. Financial Year commencing 1st April. Financial Year commencing 1st April. 1939 (or latest available. year). 1940 (estimated). 1939 (or latest available year). 1940 (estimated). (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (a) Unemployment Insurance and Unemployment Assistance Acts: £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 England and Wales. Scotland. (i) Unemployment Benefit, etc., General Scheme 39,765 22,503 5,079 3,113 44,844 12,400,000* 1,461,000* (ii) Unemployment Benefit, etc., Agricultural Scheme 911 558 148 70 1,059 584,000* 96,000* (iii) Unemployment Allowances 25,559 13,241 5,679 2,906 31,238 Not available Not available (iv) Prevention and Relief of Distress 860 1,375 120 88 980 Not available Not available (b) National Health Insurance Acts 35,932† 33,780† 4,135† 4,000† 40,067 Not available Not available (c) Widows', Orphans' and Old Age Contributory Pensions Acts 43,827‡ 50,128‡ 5,152‡ 5,876‡ 48,979 2,029,000 249,088 (d) Old Age Pensions Acts 43,785 44,590 5,078 5,141 48,863 1,911,000 220,000 (e) Old Age and Widows' Pensions Act, 1940 (Supplementary tensions) — 14,022§ — 1,554§ — Not available Not available (f) War Pensions Acts and the Ministry of Pensions Act (i.e. War of 1914–18) 32,803 32,328 3,575 3,504 36,378 720,250 80,100 (g) Pensions (Navy, Army, Air Force and Mercantile Marine) Act, 1939; Personal Injuries (Emergency Provisions) Act, 1939; Military Training Act, 1939; Reserve and Auxiliary Forces Act, 1939 514 5,114 69 554 583 40,300 5,940 (h) Education Acts 105,833 107,880 15,255 15,391 121,088 Not available 883,342 (i) Physical Training and Recreation Act 294 126 35 7 329 Not available Not available 1832W
Service England and Wales. Scotland. 1939 (or latest available year) Great Britain. Total number of persons directly benefiting from the expenditure included in Column 5. Financial Year commencing 1st April. Financial Year commencing 1st April. 1939 (or latest available. year). 1940 (estimated). 1939 (or latest available year). 1940 (estimated). (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 England and Wales. Scotland. (j) Acts relating to Approved Schools … 993 1,068 162 176 1,155 8,735 2,122 (k) Public Health Acts so far as they relate to: (i) Hospitals and Treatment of Disease … 19,644 Not available 1,709 1,672 21,353 Not available Not available (ii) Maternity and Child Welfare Work … 4,280 482 448 4,762 Not available Not available (l) Midwives Acts … 1,471 58 84 1,529 Not available Not available (m) Housing Acts … 42,850 8,285 8,550 51,135 — — (n) Acts relating to the Relief of the Poor … 43,345 5,845 5,077 49,190 1,205,867 219,027 (o) Lunacy and Mental Treatment Acts … 3,450 133,827 (p) Mental Deficiency Acts … 3,760 1,604 1,694 8,814 Not available 22,036 Totals … 449,876 62,470 59,895 512,346 NOTES. * Numbers given are those of insured persons. See paragraph 6 on page 5 of Command 5906. † The figures given in columns 1 and 3 and columns 2 and 4 relate to the calendar years 1940 and 1941 respectively. ‡ These figures refer to expenditure from the Pensions Account, the Special Pensions Account, the Pensions (Scotland) Account and the Special Pensions (Scotland) Account. Surpluses and deficits in these Accounts are dealt with by transfers to and from the Treasury Pensions Account and the Treasury Special Pensions Account which cover both England and Wales, and Scotland, and into which annual contributions are to be paid by the Exchequer For the financial year 1939 the amount of the Exchequer contribution was £19,525,000. § From August, 1940.