HC Deb 20 February 1924 vol 169 cc1772-3W
Mr. LANSBURY

asked the Minister of Health whether he will have printed, for the information of the House, the outdoor relief scales which have been operating in Bradford, Middlesbrough, Sheffield, Birmingham, Norwich, Poplar. Bermondsey, Whitechapel, West Ham, and Stepney unions during the years 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923 and 1924; will he also ask the Jewish board of guardians to supply him with the number of persona relieved by that organisation in the Stepney borough during the same years. and the cost of such relief; and will he also state to the House the total number of persons in receipt of in-door and outdoor relief, respectively, in the West Ham and Poplar unions on the 31st day of January, 1924?

Mr. WHEATLEY

I am taking steps to obtain the information desired by my hon. Friend, but I should doubt whether there would be any advantage in printing a series of detailed scales of relief.

Sir F. HALL

asked the Minister of Health what was the total expenditure in England and Wales under all heads of Poor Law relief, indoor and outdoor, for the last complete year for which the accounts have been made up; and what that amount would have been if the scale throughout the country had been similar to that adopted by the Poplar Board of Guardians?

Mr. WHEATLEY

The total expenditure on the relief of the poor in the year ended 31st March, 1922, in England and Wales, was £42,273,000. There are no scales of indoor relief; in many unions there are no scales of outdoor relief; where there are such scales they are not scales of payment but scales of income, and the application of these scales is governed by a variety of complicated conditions and qualifications. For these reasons it is quite impossible to give the hon. Member any estimate in reply to the last part of his question.

Mr. C. WILSON

asked the Minister of health the number per 1,000 of the population in receipt of outdoor relief, and the scales of such relief, at the time, when Mr. Cooper made his investigations in regard to Poplar, in the case of the Poor Law unions in which the following Parliamentary constituencies are comprised: Bucks (Aylesbury), Cornwall (Camborne), Kent (Tonbridge), Lambeth (North), Middlesbrough (East and West), Paisley, Poplar, Rochdale, Sheffield (seven divisions), Southampton, South Shields, Stafford, and Woolwich (East and West)?

Mr. WHEATLEY

I will send my hon. Friend such information as is available in regard to the unions mentioned.