asked the Minister of Labour what, on the basis of 2,600,000 unemployed, is the total increase in the annual cost to the Exchequer and the Unemployment Insurance Fund due to the Acts of 1929 and 1930?

The Act of 1929 increased the charge on the Exchequer by about £3,500,000 per annum. The Act of 1930 increased the charge on the Exchequer by transferring to it for a period the cost of transitional benefit. At the present time, with a live register of about 2,600,000, the cost under this head is at the rate of £23,500,000 per annum. As regards the Unemployment Fund, apart from extending the transitional period and placing the cost on the Exchequer, the Act of 1930 altered certain conditions and increased some of the rates of benefit. It is estimated that with a live register of 2,600,000, the cost of these changes would be about £13,750,000, of which approximately £8,750,000 would be included in the amount already mentioned as chargeable to the Exchequer for transitional benefit.

Taking the whole of these figures, the amount added to the Exchequer will be a total of over £30,000,000?

Are not the figures mentioned in the question very much exaggerated?

They are only estimated figures; they can only be.

But may we take it that they are actuarial figures roughly based on the Treasury figures as given in public?

On these figures, shall we not require to borrow something like £1,000,000 a week for the Unemployment Fund, if not an increasing amount?

asked the Minister of Labour the total contributions paid into the Insurance Fund by employers and employed in the coal mining industry of Great Britain during each of the past three years, the cost of benefit, and the cost of administration for the same period, giving separate figures for Lancashire and Cheshire?

asked the Minister of Labour the total contributions paid into the Insurance Fund by employers and employed in the cotton industry during the past two years and the cost of benefit and administration during the same period?

Estimates of the receipts and payments in respect of each of a number of groups of industries were given in a table put before the Royal Commission on Unemployment Insurance and issued in a Stationery Office publica- tion (Volume II—Fifth Day's Evidence) which can be obtained by hon. Members in the usual way. I am arranging to have the table published separately as a White Paper.

asked the Minister of Labour the amount of the Treasury loan to the Unemployment Insurance Fund in April, 1926, and April, 1927, respectively?

The outstanding amounts of the Treasury advances to the Unemployment Fund at the beginning of April, 1926 and 1927, were £7,177,569 and £24,650,000 respectively.