§ Mr. WATTasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that the special medical scheme of the Scottish Clerks' Association was approved of by the English, Scottish, and Welsh Commissioners on the 7th June last; that on the strength of that approval 16,000 new members joined the association; and that on the 5th February of this year, after the benefits under the scheme have become payable, the Scottish Commissioners withdrew their approval; and, if so, what action he proposes to take in the matter, in view of the fact that a letter was written on the 31st October, 1911, by his Department saying that such a scheme as theirs would be permissible.
Mr. ROBERTSONThe special medical scheme of the society has not at any time received the approval of the Commissioners, nor was any indication of such approval given either in the letter of 31st October, 1911 (which I understand to be a letter written on behalf of my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer while the Bill was before Parliament), nor in the letter of 7th June, 1912, which conveyed the approval of the society for the transaction of business under the Act. No question of withdrawing approval therefore arises.