§ Sir WILLIAM BULLalso asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether any benefit has in any instance been allowed to the dependants of insured persons receiving sanatorium benefit under the National Insurance Act; if so, whether he can state in how many instances the benefits to such dependants has been granted; and what the character and value of that benefit have been?
§ Mr. MASTERMANThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. Dependants of insured persons in residential institutions receive the sickness and maternity benefits that would otherwise have been paid to the insured persons themselves; and in certain areas committees have adopted the provisions of Section 17 (1) of the Act under which dependants suffering from tuberculosis may then be eligible for sanatorium benefit. I could not answer the second and third parts of the question fully without calling for a special Return from over 23,000 societies and branches and from 235 insurance committees, but I may say that the number of dependants who have already been treated in residential institutions amounts to 119 in England.