§ Sir J. Mellorasked the Minister of National Insurance why the Emergency 32W Additional Benefits Amendment Regulations, contained in S.R.& 0., 1945, No. 1644, were certified as urgent, instead of being made at the proper time, so as to come into operation under the normal procedure.
§ Mr. J. GriffithsThe regulations to which the hon. Member refers were required to be made urgently because, owing to the suspension of valuations of approved societies during the emergency period, additional benefits and schemes covering about 400,000 insured persons would otherwise have come to an end at 6th January, 1946. As the hon. Member will see, the regulations involved consultation with a number of authorities including the Ministries of Labour and Finance for Northern Ireland. By the date when the necessary approvals for the making of the regulations were obtained there was not time before 6th January to give the prescribed notice of the proposal to make the regulations, and it was accordingly necessary to make the regulations to come into force at once as provisional rules.