asked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that the drug and medicine costs covering the insured population under the care of the Lancashire Insurance Committee have increased, and that the average cost per insured person has increased from 19.30d. in 1916 to 41.21d. in 1934; and what steps, if any, his Department is taking to stop this increase without at the same time depriving the insured population of necessities in this connection?

I am aware of the increase in the cost of drugs for insured persons, which has occurred in. Lancashire in common with other areas. As regards the second part of the question, action is taken under Article 42 of the Medical Benefit Consolidated Regulations, 1928, which provides machinery for dealing with cases where the cost is in excess of what is reasonably necessary the adequate treatment of the patients.

asked the Minister of Health the number of insured persons, men and women, respectively, submitted

—	Men.	Women.
1. Total number of references dealt with	178,917	297,921
2. Number of persons examined	97,055	154,139
3. Number of persons found on examination to be incapable of work	75,668	104,353
4. Number of persons found on examination to be not incapable of work.	21,387	49,786
5. Number of persons whose incapacity was accepted, so that examination was not necessary.	8,850	13,628
6. Number of persons not attending for examination although fit to do so. (Ordinarily these persons had been declared by their doctors to have become fit for work.	73,012	130,154

asked the President of the Board of Education what proportion of the 1,076 schools with defective premises are church schools; and how many of the council schools fall within Categories A, B and C?

Of the 1,076 schools on the Board's list of schools with defective premises 753 are church schools. Of the 323 council schools 61 are in category A, 184 in category B, and 78 in category C.

asked the Minister of Labour in what proportions the unemployment benefits of, approximately, £36,500,000 paid in respect of male contributors and the £6,500,000 paid in respect of female contributors between March, 1935, and March, 1936, were distributed as between men, their wives, children, and other dependants, and as between women, their children, and other dependants; and what was the number of beneficiaries in each of these seven categories?

The sum of 36,500,000 paid to male contributors during the year ended 31st March, 1936

The particulars of in capacity references of insured persons to Health the number of insured persons, regional medical officers in England and men and women, respectively, submitted Wales in 1935, are as set out below:includes approximately £6,975,000 for increases in respect of adult dependants and £2,775,000 for increases in respect of child dependants. The sum of £6,500,000 paid to female contributors includes about £25,000 for increases paid in respect of adult dependants and £25,000 for increases in respect of child dependants. In the case of male claimants the great majority of adult dependants were the wives of the claimants, but precise figures are not available. The average monthly number of persons having claims admitted for benefit was:—Males 695,715, Females 193,361. The average number of dependants in respect of whom an increase was authorised was:—

	Male Claimants.	Female Claimants.
Adult dependants	354,702	1,180
Child dependants	524,619	4,564

asked the Minister of Labour the estimated number of insured persons, aged 14 to 64 years, in employment and the number registered as unemployed in the several administrative divisions (Ministry of Labour) at the end of the following years: 1923, 1929, 1930, 1934, and 1935, respectively.

The figures in the following Table provide an approximate indication of the numbers of insured persons, aged 16 to 64 years, in employ- ment in each administrative division at or near the end of June in each of the years specified; corresponding figures for the end of those years are not available. The figures have been obtained by deducting the number of insured persons recorded as unemployed at the end of June from the total number of insured persons, as estimated on the basis of information derived from the annual exchange of unemployment books which takes place in July of each year. No deduction has been made in respect of persons absent from work owing to sickness or trade disputes: on the other hand,

Numbers of insured persons aged 16 to 64 in employment.
Division.				June, 1923.	June, 1929.	June, 1930.	June, 1934.	June, 1935.
				Thousands.
London	…	…	…	1,761	2,107	2,094	2,235	2,267
South Eastern		…	…	672	860	873	966	1,001
South Western		…	…	669	783	789	813	834
Midlands	…	…	…	1,468	1,629	1,572	1,667	1,727
North Eastern		…	…	1,687	1,736	1,638	1,593	1,612
North Western		…	…	1,711	1,853	1,660	1,728	1,741
Scotland	…	…	…	1,078	1,130	1,083	1,060	1,084
Wales	…	…	…	564	477	443	416	428

The numbers of insured persons recorded as unemployed in each administrative division at the end of June of each of these years, exclusive of persons insured

Numbers of insured persons recorded as unemployed.
Division.			25th June, 1923.	24th June, 1929.	23rd June, 1930.	25th June, 1934.	24th June, 1935.
			Aged 16 and over.*	Aged 16 to 64.			Aged 16 to 64.	Aged 14 to 64.
London	…	…	193,957	106,512	161,723	202,055	199,118	201,986
South Eastern		…	63,145	34,306	57,100	70,803	72,687	74,446
South Western		…	75,867	57,075	75,202	104,853	96,090	96,799
Midlands		…	171,614	163,920	274,563	260,446	224,852	226,673
North Eastern		…	223,275	250,281	383,117	488,338	462,881	468,658
North Western		…	312,485	267,463	522,208	437,338	416,424	423,394
Scotland	…	…	177,778	139,692	225,281	291,603	271,720	276,540
Wales	…	…	34,998	106,301	148,454	206,308	190,145	192,364
* The figures for 1923 include persons aged 65 and over. Information is not available as to the precise numbers of such persons who were unemployed in each administrative division, but it is estimated that the total number, in Great Britain, was probably not more than 30,000.

asked the Minister of Labour whether be will make a further statement to show what are the differences in the application of the International Labour Convention on the marking of weights on heavy packages; and what is the present position of the negotiations?

The Committee of Experts appointed by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office to examine the application of international labour conventions has reported in the following terms: "General observation.—The Committee notes that Article 1 of the Convention, under which the indication of the weight must be given on any package or object of 1,000 kgs. or more gross weight, is not applied in the same way in all the countries which have ratified the Convention. This fact is expressly pointed out in the reports of two Governments and has been confirmed by the examination which the Committee has made of the reports and of the national legislation. In some cases the legislation covers "packages" without mentioning "objects"; in others— and this point has already engaged the attention of the Committee last year—the Convention is not applied to goods rolled in series, such as rails, to standardised foundry products or to tree-trunks, the reason advanced to justify these exceptions being that it is here a question of goods transported in bulk. In the majority of countries, on the contrary, the provisions of the Convention are applied both to "packages" and to "objects" and no exception is allowed for specified objects. Without having any doubt, for its own part, as to the comprehensive scope of this provision of Article 1, the Committee feels that it should draw the attention of the Governing Body to the divergent interpretations which are given to the provision in question."Authority was given recently by the Governing Body for the transmission of the report to the International Labour Conference this June, when it will no doubt be considered by the Conference.