§ Mr. S. CROOKEalso asked the Minister Health if he will give the amount spent each year since the passing of the National Health Insurance Act on medical service (doctors), medical supplies (medicine, etc.), and maternity benefit, respectively?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINThe following statement gives the approximate amount spent in England and Wales in each year since the passing of the National Insurance Act, 1911, to the end of the year 1923 on the respective services specified in the question:
of the domiciliary treatment of persons suffering
and in that year the total payments of sickness and disablement benefits amounted to a sum of £11,533,400, of which £7,677,500 was paid to men and £3,855,900 was paid to women.
A table, giving for England the total number of insured persons, the receipts and expenditure on benefits for each of the last 10 years, is given on pages 166 and 167 of the Fifth Annual Report of the Ministry of Health. Cmd. 2218 (1924).
It is not possible to give the number of cases assisted in a year or the total number of weeks of sickness, as no occasion has arisen for requiring approved 2289W societies to keep such statistics, and the necessary data are, therefore, not available.