§ Mr. Steeleasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what is the number of registered unemployed in each region getting National Assistance; and how many of these are not drawing the full scale because of a limitation on assistance based on earning power.
§ Mr. N. MacphersonOn 30th October last the numbers of authorisations of weekly National Assistance allowances granted to persons registering as unemployed which were current in the area offices of the National Assistance Board were as follows:
In certain cases the person to whom the authorisation related might recently have resumed work.
England Northern Region 20,861 East and West Ridings Region 10,810 North Midland Region 8,170 London (North) Region 19,038 London (South) Region 12,785 South-Western Region 6,542 Midland Region 14,947 North-Western Region 27,464 Wales 13,252 Scotland 32,170 Total 166,039 Information about cases in which the allowance is restricted in amount by reference to earning capacity, in accordance 119W with Regulation 5 of the National Assistance (Determination of Need) Regulations, 1948 (S.I. 1948, No. 1334), is obtained once a year on a sample 0basis, and the latest such information at present available relates to the end of 1961 and to the country as a whole. Of about 131,000 authorisations of allowances payable at employment exchanges which were then current, about 12,000 were so restricted.