HC Deb 14 December 1944 vol 406 cc1364-8W
Mr. Turton

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he can give the figures of expenditure on public social services in 1942 and 1943.

Mr. Peake

Yes, Sir. Appended is a statement giving the figures for 1942 (or the latest available year) and 1943. These should be compared with those published in the OFFICIAL REPORT for 16th December, 1943, in respect of 1941 and 1942.

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 1942 and 1943, 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. 1942 (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.
1942 (or latest available year). 1943 (estimated) 1942 (or latest available year). 1943 (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 4,803 4,068 1,213 1,171 6,016 Not available. Not available.
(ii) Unemployment Benefit, etc., Agricultural Scheme 246 218 34 30 280
(iii) Unemployment Allowances 1,521 1,301 455 434 1,976
(iv) Prevention and Relief of Distress 694 619 44 39 738
(b) National Health Insurance Acts 45,382† 47,600† 5,309† 5,605† 50,691 21,553,000* 2,449,000*
(c) Widows', Orphans' and Old Age Contributory Pensions Acts. 54,128‡ 55,931‡ 6,330‡ 6,484‡ 60,458 2,461,000 294,000
(d) Old Age Pensions Acts 47,276 49,732 5,362 5,615 52,638 2,017,000 229,000
(e) Old Age and Widows' Pensions Act, 1940: Supplementary Pensions. 36,130 42,766 3,665 4,323 39,795 Not available. Not available.
(f) War Pensions Acts and the Ministry of Pensions Act (i.e. War of 1914–18.) 30,198 29,462 3,333 3,253 33,531 651,200 71,700
(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. 23,151 31,368 2,765 3,782 25,916 704,570 84,020
(h) Education Acts 120,480 127,509 16,895 17,956 137,375 Not available. 892,007
(i) Physical Training and Recreation Act 9 2 4 — 13 Not available. Not available.
(j) Acts relating to Approved Schools 1,475§ 1,642 231 252 1,706 10,634 3,096

Service. England and Wales. Scotland. 1942 (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.
1942 (or latest available year). 1943 (estimated) 1942 (or latest available year). 1943 (estimated)
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
(k) Public Health Acts so far as they relate to: £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 England and Wales. Scotland.
(i) Hospitals and Treatment of Disease … 17,779 Not available 2,243 Not available 20,022 Not available. Not available.
(ii) Maternity and Child Welfare Work … 4,157 763 6,377
(l) Midwives Acts … 1,457
(m) Housing Acts … 46,178 8,923 55,101— —
(n) Acts relating to the Relief of the Poor … 39,510 4,312 43,822 856,128 106,000
(o) Lunacy and Mental Treatment Acts … 2,932 1,855 9,123 132,167 22,000
(p) Mental Deficiency Acts … 4,336 Not available
Totals … 481,842 63,736 545,578
NOTES.
* Numbers given are those of insured persons at 31st December, 1942. 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 1943 and 1944 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 paid by the Exchequer. For the financial year 1942 the amount of the Exchequer contribution was £22,525,000.
§ Of this figure £239,000, representing expenditure by local authorities, relates to the financial year 1938, the latest year for which figures are available.