§ Sir K. WOODasked the Minister of Health, for the last convenient date, the percentage of claims or other material particulars concerning the claims of married women on the funds of approved societies under the National Insurance Act; and how these compare with the original estimate of the Government actuary and the basis upon which married women's contributions were calculated?
§ Mr. GREENWOODThe claims of married women have not in recent years been separately tabulated, but, in view of the facts brought out in the report of the Government actuary on an investigation into the experience of a representative sample of the insured population (Cmd. 3548), arrangements have been made for the separate tabulation of these claims in the future. In reply to the second part of the question, the report referred to showed that in the year 1927 the sickness claims of married women were 130 per cent. of the provision made by the valuation standard, while those of unmarried women were 117 per cent. In regard to disablement benefit, the respective percentages were 171 and 119. In the case of both benefits, the relative increase in the claims of married women over the previous six years had been much more marked than in the case of the unmarried. For a due appreciation of these figures it should be added that the valuation standard itself provides for a considerably greater amount of claims from the married than from the unmarried.