DEBATE OPENS ON BEVERIDGE REPORT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 40, 17 February 1943, Page 4

DEBATE OPENS ON BEVERIDGE REPORT

NEW SOCIAL SERVICES

Final Government Decision Not Yet Reached

British Official Wireless Rec. 2.30 p.m. RUGBY,. Feb. 16. Sir John Anderson, President of ... the Council, announced in the House of Commons that the general lines of development of the social services IT *~ici down in tne Beveridge report lorigre those the Government wishes reacfollow, but all the main features .not commend themselves equally. _ g emphasised that the GovernMost lt 's study of the report was by final means complete and the Govern-■nr-pfnt was not ready to make a final onouncement. Any provisional conearusion would be subject to recontoideration in the light of the debate. Illustrating the formidable expenditure inevitably , involved m any such scheme, Sir John Anderson said the charge on the taxpayers foi provision of social insurance ana allied services would, by the twentieth year, have grown by £168.000,000, compared with the first year of the operation of the plan, and even then it would by no meaps be at the peak. Obviously, no one could pronounce now with certainty on the financial position at the end of the war, and estimates framed now might not prove well founded. What the Government must do now was to see whether any steps, by way o: paration, could reasonably be taken without interfering with tnerwa effort. The tasks and problems ot the future must, however, be faced confidently and courageously. "The Government therefoi e sa} s. Let us not be deterred by doubt as to finance from putting into shape. Apart from social insurance, which must take high priority are education, agricu ture housing, roading, forestry and Colonial de velopment. Work is proceeding all these, but it must be months before the Government can De ready. Vast Amount of Detail' "In social insurance there is a vast amount of detail which must be sifted. Meantime, there can be no commitments. Nothing will be lost by inevitable delay." • Sir John Anderson said that the scheme would be worked out as rapidly as possible, and Parliament would have to take its decisions m of the fullest available in- j on lation and the financial situation. co £ r 2xplained that although once the whicr jjg .-a whole "vvas adopted it bought into operation by justi: eg nevertheless the Various; parts the he'scheme, apart from the fundathe ital assumptions on which it was ■ eleqfed, hung together, and it was reborn that point of view that the -'Government was considering at. "After international security, which in the. Government's view must be-the first of our peace aims there must come., the: establishment of our national economy' on a sound basis, with export trade in,a healthy, condition and employment continuously maintained at the highest possible level. This must be done. The question arises whether this basic assumption as to the maintenance of employment which underlies the scheme — it is the bedrock on which the finance of .the plan has been developed —- should,, not.,first be investigated and:placed-beyond reasonable doubt before-.the plan can be ad would be the prudent course if there was reason to expect such investigation to reach conclusions .upon which practical reliance could be placed, but unfortunately there was no reason to expect such a result. It seemed to the Government that acceptance or reorganisation of this basic. assumption must 'attend not upon a prior demonstration of ■ its validity, but whether it was considered -jtfrit merely by the Government but by all concerned , as something we all intended to every nerve to achieve. ' V Basic Assumptions On . this basis the Government adopted^the assumption. The Government also accepted in principle two other basic assumptions—comnrehensive medical service and a system of children's allowances. In connection with the proposed - comprehensive health service Sir John Anderson, .stressed that the ' Government "had no intention of forcing new services on those wfio preferred private arrangements. foi medical attendance or hospital tieat--111 Sir' John Anderson said that before the report was issued, the Government had .come to the conclusion that the most effective service . was-to give benefits tP children, and had developed a scheme.for meals at schools. The Government saw no difficulty in providing services to children equivalent .to half a- crown a week, with the 1/ suggested by the Beveridge report. The' Government had decided on a cash allowance for a second child, -asd/that others should be 5/, not 8/ as recoflimended in the report. The Government thought. that the sickness and unemployment rates should be the same, and it would be possible to/fix rates not widely different 'from the report. Both should be of limited duration. Old Age Pension Difficulties Old age pensions presented difficulties, because of the cost involved. Sickness arid unemployment benefits were mostly paid for as they went along, but pension benefits were not fully available for 20 years. The Government considered that a contribution should he_ fixed now, and if Parliament later decided to increase the pension, contributions, could be reconsidered. The funeral grant should be one of the benefits under the scheme. Sir John Anderson also dealt with the transitional stage in the pensions scheme, which would be necessary because of the voluntary schemes in existence. He could not contemplate the passing of such societies without regret. The question of administration would have to be decided when the scheme was approved. The intention was that it should be under a Minister without portfolio.