§ 92. Mr. Bartleyasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance if he will have Schedule 1, Part II, paragraph 7, of the National Assistance Board (Determination of Needs) Regulations revised, with a view to increasing the amount of earnings to be disregarded.
§ Mr. PeakeNo. I would point out that the National Assistance Act leaves the responsibility for initiating changes in the Regulations with the National Assistance Board.
§ 93. Mr. Bartleyasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance if he will ask the National Assistance Board to submit through him to Parliament amended National Assistance Board (Determination of Needs) Regulations, providing for the disregards of certain forms of income to be increased to at least compensate for loss of money value since 1948.
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§ Mr. PeakeNo. The rules about disregarding certain forms of income are laid down in the National Assistance Act, 1948, and any amendment would require legislation, which I am not prepared to introduce for the reason given in reply to a similar question by the hon. Member for Mansfield (Mr. B. Taylor) on 21st November.
§ Mr. Bartleyasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance when the general level of rents in localities under the National Assistance Board (Determination of Needs) Regulations was last fixed; and whether he will arrange for those rent allowances to be increased to meet rent increases since that date.
§ Mr. PeakeI assume that the hon. Member is referring to the recommendations made to the Board by its local advisory committees in 1950. The Board informs me that its officers have discretion to meet rents in excess of the figures recommended by the committees and that increases in rents are in fact being provided for in full in all but a small minority of cases, in most of which the household includes at least one earning member able to take responsibility for part of a relatively high rent.