§ Mr. Beithasked the Secretary of State for Social Services why periods of less than seven consecutive days of unemployment are now being disregarded when calculating the duration of the off-season in the application of the seasonal workers' regulations to share fishermen.
§ Mr. NewtonThe seasonal workers regulations reflect recommendations made in a National Insurance Advisory Committee report published in 1952. This suggested that,240W in the interests of common sense and administrative economy, short periods of less than one week when a person was not working, should be ignored as inconsiderable in reckoning his off-season. The report also recommended that share fishermen should be classed as seasonal workers where their employment is of a seasonal nature and that their title to unemployment benefit during their off-season should be decided upon the same lines as adopted for other seasonal workers. There have been no recent changes to these regulations.