Orders of the Day — National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 18 February 1946.

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Photo of Mr John Boyd-Carpenter Mr John Boyd-Carpenter , Kingston upon Thames 12:00, 18 February 1946

I very much regret what the learned Solicitor-General has just said. He will recollect that the Standing Committee which dealt with this matter had the advantage of his attendance at a great many Sittings, and, in particular, the advantage of his advice on the point raised today by my right hon. Friend, that of the boy on the bicycle provided by the employer to get him to or from work. When that point was raised by a member of the Committee the Solicitor-General in his reply said: Whether driving that bicycle can be fairly said to be operating it on behalf of his employer would be, I should have thought, a matter of some doubt. That is a point I might look at and consider more carefully. It is a point of importance."—[Standing Committee A, OFFICIAL REPORT, 1st November, 1945; c. 66-7.] I understood, and I am perfectly certain other Members of the Standing Committee understood, that it was the Solicitor-General's intention to look at that point so as to secure that if the boy on the bicycle were not covered he should be. We are presented this afternoon with an Amendment which the Solicitor-General has quite rightly advised the House will eliminate the boy on the bicycle. I conceive that it is possible that if the boy on the bicycle picked up another employee and put him on the pillion, while the boy on the bicycle could not recover any compensation there would be some doubt whether the boy on the pillion was covered. That is obviously fantastically unsatisfactory. I feel it is a little discouraging for Members of this House. and of a Standing Committee, when they raise a point of this kind, and get what seems a satisfactory answer from the Minister, to come to this stage of the Bill and find that any doubt whatever is wiped out, but wiped out in the wrong direction. The Solicitor-General said, to my mind very rightly, that the principle behind the cover of this Bill is that this cover should go to people who are running extra risks by reason of their employment. Where the vehicle, be it a 'bus or bicycle, is provided by an employer to get employees to work, surely the risks incidental to travelling upon that vehicle are extra risks run by that employee over and above the risks run by other members of the public? Therefore, my submission to the House is twofold, first, the very unsatisfactory result of the Solicitor-General's consideration of the point put to him in Committee; secondly, that it would undoubtedly be the effect of this Amendment, if it were carried, to exclude the boy on the bicycle other than the pillion rider. I ask the right hon. Gentleman to consider that exclusion is justifiable, fair or equitable.