§ Sir FORTESCUE FLANNERYasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the duties of Customs and Excise officers have been greatly increased under the National Insurance Act; whether those duties are in addition to the original duties of the officials in question as revenue and pension officers; whether such duties include answering inquiries and giving advice to the public, investigating claims for exemption from insurance, which depends upon questions of income and maintenance, reporting on claims for repayment in respect of stamps wrongly used, investigating and reporting on questions as to liability to insurance and as to the rate of contribution payable by employer and employed, and many delicate questions arising under this head owing to the complexity of the Act and Regulations, giving assistance to local secretaries of friendly societies in cases in which they have not properly appreciated the duties required of them, informing deposit contributors of the names of doctors on the panels, and giving them advice as to the obtaining of medical benefits; whether the sole further remuneration provided for the officials in question is an addition of £20 to the maximum per annum, that is to the salary to be reached in the case of many junior officers at the end of twenty years; 1642W and whether there is any intention on the part of the Treasury to increase the present remuneration, so as to avoid the hardship of existing work to be performed without proportionate remuneration accruing until after the lapse of many years?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGEIt is the fact that the work of the Customs and Excise Department was temporarily increased last year in connection with the National Insurance Act, but the increase in volume has been adequately met by increasing the numbers of the staff, and I cannot admit that the quality of the work is not adequately met by the present scales of pay, or is above the capacity of the average officer.