§ Sir J. Duncanasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what information is available as to the number of immigrants from the Commonwealth and Colonies who are receiving National Insurance benefits or National Assistance.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterNeither my Department nor that of my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour and National Service keep statistics of the country of origin of claimants to National Insurance benefits, who must all alike satisfy the contribution conditions of the scheme before they can draw benefit. Nor are such statistics kept by the National Assistance Board. While no figures are available for immigrants from the Commonwealth as a whole, an examination of the unemployment registers at employment exchanges 129W in March this year showed that about 5,500 Asian Commonwealth or colonial workers were receiving unemployment benefit (including 1,100 who were also getting National Assistance). About 7,000 were receiving assistance only. The total resident population from the Asian Commonwealth countries and Colonial Territories was estimated at about 190,000.