§ Sir H. BETTERTONasked the Minister of Labour if she will furnish a Return for each of the weeks from 1st January to the present date showing the number of persons in England, Scotland, and Wales to whom unemployment insurance benefit has been paid?
§ Miss BONDFIELDThe following table gives the information available:
3143WIt should be noted that the figures for a particular week consist of all the cases in which a payment of benefit was made on the pay day (or pay days) relating to that week, whether the payment was for the whole or part of the week; in certain cases the payment (including arrears) would cover more than a week. In any comparison of these figures with the Live Register returns it should be borne in mind that those returns relate to persons registered as unemployed on the Mondays for which the returns are made; they therefore include a number of persons who did not draw benefit for any part of the week, but on the other hand exclude a number who drew benefit for part of the week but were not unemployed on the Monday.