§ 72. Mr. Moodyasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance if he will report on the number of persons in the county borough of Gateshead that have been refused National Assistance benefit under Section 10 of the National Assistance Act.
§ Mr. PeakeI am informed by the National Assistance Board that since the National Assistance Act, 1948, came into force there have been four men in Gateshead, all with poor work records, who, in consequence of directions made by the local appeal tribunal under Section 10 of the Act, were informed that for the time being they would be granted assistance
Total Number of Regular Weekly Grants Number of Weekly Grants which included a Discretionary Addition ]9th December, 1950 … … 1,350,000 26th September, 1950 … 420,000 18th December, 1951 … … 1,462,000 14th November, 1951 … 490,000 16th December, 1952 … … 1,667,000 5th November, 1952 … 530,000 15th December, 1953 … … 1,761,000 4th November, 1953 … 574,000 NOTES: (1) Apart from discretionary additions to weekly grants, a special payment may be made to meet an exceptional need of clothing, bedding, etc.: for example, about 147,000 such payments, totalling £534,000, were made during 1953. (2) Grants to blind and certain tuberculous persons (totalling, for example, 89,000 on 15th December, 1953) are assessed on a scale which is higher than that for other persons.