Mr Thomas Steele: I beg to move, in page 53, line 30, to leave out the third "and," and to insert "or fees and such." This Amendment carries out a promise made in the Standing Committee to the hon. Member for The High Peak (Mr. Molson), who desired that the paragraph should be amended to cover payment by fees.
Mr Thomas Steele: We had a long discussion in Committee on this point. My right hon. Friend appreciates the arguments which were put forward and the anxiety felt by Members on all sides of the Committee that there should be some expression in the Bill of the necessity for dealing promptly with applications for assistance. Therefore, we have looked at this matter, and we would like to meet the wishes of hon....
Mr Thomas Steele: I beg to move, in page 7, line 21, to leave out from "Where" to "in," and to insert "payments." The purpose of the Amendment is to fulfil a promise given in the Committee to the hon. Member for The High Peak (Mr. Molson), when he raised strong objection to the drafting of the Clause at this point. The matter has been reconsidered, and I am satisfied that the Amendments now proposed will...
Mr Thomas Steele: I beg to move, in page 8, line 18, to leave out "to the effect stated in," and to insert: stating the effect of. This is the first of three Amendments, consequent upon an Amendment which was made in the Committee. The first two are improvements upon the wording. The present effect of the Clause is that the National Assistance Board will he required to put notices in every office. That would...
Mr Thomas Steele: I am sorry to say that I cannot agree with my hon. Friend on this matter. The Clause makes it clear that a local authority will not ordinarily have a duty to provide temporary accommodation in circumstances which could reasonably have been foreseen, if, for example, a person at the height of the season, went for 24 hours to, shall we say, Wigan of blessed memory, knowing that no accommodation...
Mr Thomas Steele: We had a considerable amount of discussion on this matter in Committee. As the hon. Member for The High Peak (Mr. Molson) said, I did not succeed in convincing the Committee that the Subsection is equitable and fair as it stands. I hope the House will bear with me when I try to make a clearer explanation and to convince the House that Subsection (5) is equitable, and carries out the...
Mr Thomas Steele: I agree with my hon. Friend, but if he will read Subsection (4, a) he will see there the words: to the Board or the local authority concerned, in respect of the cost of assistance, whether given before or after the making of the order,… The possibilities are that the court will not make any order for retrospective pay- ment, and in that case Subsection (5) will not apply. If the court...
Mr Thomas Steele: I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read the Third time." Let me express on behalf of my right hon. Friends the Minister of National Insurance and the Minister of Health, and on behalf of my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health, our deep appreciation at the way in which this important Measure has been received and debated in the House and in Committee. We had a...
Mr Thomas Steele: Will my hon. Friend develop that point?
Mr Thomas Steele: Among the background material about the insurance schemes collected for these speakers there were three guides to the various Acts published by the Labour Party, and a booklet issued under the auspices of the "News Chronicle" newspaper. These were included on account of the factual and expository character of their contents. If there are any other publications of this nature sponsored by the...
Mr Thomas Steele: We did not know of any other pamphlets. These were of a simple explanatory nature. The other side of the House has usually argued that these were accepted by all political parties. I do not think this pamphlet ought to be the subject of criticism.
Mr Thomas Steele: If the hon. Gentleman can tell us of any other pamphlet which has been published by his own party we should be prepared to consider it.
Mr Thomas Steele: Recruitment is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Lord President of the Council. In reply to the hon. Member for Altrincham and Sale (Mr. Erroll), I would like to know if there are any other pamphlets by the Conservative Party?
Mr Thomas Steele: Certainly.
Mr Thomas Steele: The right hon. Gentleman the Member for the City of London (Mr. Assheton) used a phrase which is the keynote of the reasons why we have not adopted the words in the Transport Act. He said that the occupation of the persons employed by the approved societies would be changed, and it is upon that keynote that I want to speak. The Transport Act and the other Acts deal with public bodies and the...
Mr Thomas Steele: If I may speak again by leave of the House, when my right hon. Friend introduced the last Clause he indicated that this was a highly technical matter but that there were words in his Clause which had a very simple explanation. In moving this Amendment the right hon. Gentleman rather sought to get an assurance on a particular matter and I did not direct myself to all the technicalities of the...
Mr Thomas Steele: I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given on this subject to the hon. Member for Lonsdale (Sir I. Fraser) on 13th April last, a copy of which I am sending him.
Mr Thomas Steele: The reply was in the negative, and if the hon. Member will read it, he will see the reasons for it.
Mr Thomas Steele: There are about eight million uninsured married women under age 60 who are engaged solely on household duties. It is assumed that about half of these would elect to pay contributions in the non-employed class if they were given the option, that most of those who so elected would be in the older age groups, and that those who were over age 50 at the date of entry into insurance would, like...
Mr Thomas Steele: I can assure my hon. Friend that the Minister has given this matter very careful consideration, and if my hon. Friend will take an opportunity of studying the long reply which I have given, I am quite sure he will be convinced on the matter.
