§ Mr. STEPHENasked the Minister of Labour if she is aware that the percentage of disallowances by courts of referees at Bridgeton Exchange, Glasgow, is much higher than the percentage of disallowances at the Parkhead Exchange, Glasgow; and, as the districts and circumstances of applicants are very-similar, will she have inquiry made as to the suggested reasons for such a discrepancy in the figures?
§ Mr. LAWSONI find that while the percentage of disallowances at Bridgeton for the period of three months ending May is 68.1, the percentage for Great Britain as a whole is 69.9 and the percentage 43W for Scotland is 65.8. I will, however, make some inquiries at both Bridgeton and Parkhead in order to ascertain if there are any special circumstances at either Exchange.
§ Mr. STEPHENasked the Minister of Labour the date of the meeting referred to in the Ministry's evidence to the Royal Commission on Unemployment Insurance of the Glasgow, Bridgeton, women's sub-committee of the local employment committee, and the names of the members present when it was unanimously agreed that amendment of the Acts was necessary in respect of the position of married women in receipt of benefit?
§ Mr. LAWSONI am having inquiries made, and will let my hon. Friend know the result.
§ Mr. BUCHANANasked the Minister of Labour if, when the officials of her Department gave evidence before the Royal Commission on Unemployment Insurance on alleged abuses, they were instructed to give evidence only as to the existence of abuses which gave benefit to the workpeople; and the reason why no evidence was given on the existence of abuses which deprive workpeople of benefit?
§ Mr. LAWSONThe answer to the first part of the question is in the negative. My hon. Friend will see from a perusal of the published evidence that the second part of the question is based on a misapprehension.
§ Mr. LOGANasked the Minister of Labour how many cases have been refused unemployment insurance benefit by the Court of Referees, at Liverpool, during the past six weeks?
§ Mr. LAWSONStatistics of disallowances of claims to benefit are ordinarily compiled in respect of specific periods of four or five weeks. During the four weeks 14th April to 11th. May, 1931, 1,049 claims to benefit were disallowed by the Court of Referees at Liverpool, and 1,137 were disallowed during the four weeks 12th May to 8th June.
Sir F. HALLasked the Minister of Labour what is the approximate amount of unemployment benefit that has been paid to the miners who ceased work at the Bedwas Colliery on 18th November, 1930; and what are the approximate 44W average wages earned by adult miners operating in the neighbourhood of the Bedwas Colliery?
§ Mr. LAWSONThe approximate amount of benefit paid to the miners who ceased work at the Bedwas Colliery in November, 1930, is between £72,000 and £73,000. I am asking my hon. Friend the Secretary for Mines whether the information asked for in the second part of the question is available.
§ Mr. BUCHANANasked the Minister of Labour the total number of persons disallowed benefit since the operation of the present Act excluding those disallowed benefit for six weeks period or under?
§ Mr. LAWSONThe statistics relate to claims and not to separate individuals, and an analysis according to the duration of the disallowance is not available. Out of a total of 584,620 disallowances in the period 13th March, 1930, to 11th May, 1931, 211,117 were on grounds for which a period of disallowance of six weeks or less is prescribed by the Acts. The balance of 373,503 included 28,708 trade dispute cases where the period of disallowance depends on the duration of the stoppage, and in some proportion of the remainder the period during which the claimant continued ineligible for benefit may have been less than six weeks.