§ 4. Mr. Houghtonasked the Minister of National Insurance if he will give an estimate of the saving to the National Insurance Fund which would result if sickness benefit were payable only after the first seven days of incapacity.
§ Mr. J. GriffithsIf sickness benefit were not paid in any circumstances for the first six working days of illness the annual saving to the National Insurance Fund would be about £8 million. This figure does not include the savings on similar changes which would be necessary in the waiting periods for industrial injury benefit and unemployment benefit.
§ 5. Mr. Houghtonasked the Minister of National Insurance what have been the three most prevalent maladies in respect of which claims to sickness benefit have been made during the first year of the National Insurance Scheme.
§ Mr. J. GriffithsI regret that precise information of this kind is not yet available, but statistics are being collected for 1949 and an analysis of them will be available in the course of next year.