I. Statement of the Results of Analysis of certain Articles under II. Canal Boats Acts, 1877 and 1884: Report by Mr. Owen J. III. Statement showing the Town Planning Schemes proposed or in operation at the 31st March, 1924, and the Area included in the Schemes IV. Statement showing the Town Planning Schemes under consideration at the 31st March, 1924, and the Area inIcluded in the Schemes 145 146-7 148 .. 148 V. Statement showing the Preliminary Statements approved by .. VII. Statement showing the Joint Town Planning Committees VIII. Statement of Appeals received under under the Town X. Statement of Schemes in respect of which Grants have been XI. Local Taxation Account, and Local Taxation Licence Duties (14657) 148-9 150-1 152 152 153-4 154-5 156-7 158-9 A 4 APPENDICES-continued. .. 162-3 XIV. National Health Insurance Fund (England): Abstract of Cash Receipts and Payments for the Year ended on the 31st XV. Summary of Accumulated Funds under the National Health Insurance Acts in England, showing the approximate position at the beginning and end of the Year 1923, and including approximate Receipts and Payments in respect XVI. National Health Insurance: Persons entitled to Benefits at the XVII. National Health Insurance: Statement showing for England the estimated Number of Persons entitled to Benefits, the Receipts (inclusive of Exchequer Grants), and the Ex- penditure on Benefits and Administration, during each of the Ten Years 1914 to 1923 .. XVIII. Table showing (for England) particulars as to the Security given by Approved Societies under Section 26 of the Act of 1911, and, as regards the period from 15th July, 1912, to the 31st December, 1923, the number and amount of Claims in respect of Losses (and Expenses) arising out of WELSH BOARD OF HEALTH. XX. Table showing (for Wales) particulars as to the Security given by Approved Societies under Section 26 of the Act of 1911, and, as regards the period from the 15th July, 1912, to the 31st December, 1923, the number and amount of Claims in respect of Losses (and Expenses) arising out of Malversation or Misappropriation of State Funds by Officers of Approved Societies which had given Security.. XXI. Welsh National Health Insurance Fund: Abstract of Cash Receipts and Payments for the Year ended on the 31st XXII. Summary of Accumulated Funds under the National Health Insurance Acts in Wales, showing the approximate position at the beginning and end of the Year 1923, and including approximate Receipts and Payments in respect of all REPORT. TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. MINISTRY OF HEALTH, WHITEHALL, July, 1924. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY, I beg leave, as Minister of Health, to present to Your Majesty the Fifth Annual Report of the Ministry of Health, which relates to the year ended on the 31st March, 1924. The subjects dealt with in the Report fall under the main heads of Public Health, Local Government and Local Finance, administration of the Poor Law, and administration of National Health Insurance. A separate section is devoted to the work of the Welsh Board of Health. The Report is a record of the more important business transacted by the Department during the year, and does not cover matters of routine or detail. Every effort has been made to reduce its length on this principle. As in previous years, the Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Department will be published in a separate volume. W. A. ROBINSON, Secretary. JOHN WHEATLEY, Minister of Health. PREFATORY NOTE. THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH IN 1923-24. Expenditure on Health Services. The provision made in 1923-24 for the health services in respect of which grants are paid to Local Authorities has been varied in the Estimates laid before Parliament for the financial year 1924-25 by increases in the amounts which it is proposed to provide for treatment of tuberculosis both generally (£30,000) and by the erection of cottages for tuberculous ex-service men at village settlements (£15,000); and for welfare of the blind (£5,000). The proposed grant in aid of expenses of port sanitary administration is unchanged; and reductions are shown in the capital grant towards the provision of sanatoria for tuberculosis, due to the approaching completion of the programme of building, and the grants in aid of maternity and child welfare work, and treatment of venereal diseases. Sufficient provision is, however, asked for in respect of the two latter services, as well as those for which increased or identical sums are included in the Estimates, to enable the Authorities and bodies concerned to go forward with approved developments of schemes in conformity with the policy announced to them by the present Government. Largely increased provision, in round figures £300,000 on the previous total of £1,000,000, is made for grants to Local Authorities and other bodies towards the cost of schemes approved by the Unemployment Grants Committee. As regards housing grants, provision decreased by £787,500 is found to be required for meeting the Exchequer liability in respect of schemes carried out under the Act of 1919 (as amended); and provision increased by £190,000 is made for meeting payments under the Act of 1923. Housing. The proposals at present under consideration by Parliament for giving further financial assistance to a long-term programme of house production do not fall within the period covered by this Report. On the 31st March, 1924, the effect of the Act of 1923 had been that 41,859 houses were to be provided under approved schemes of Local Authorities, 73,777 houses by private enterprise financially assisted under the Act, and 5,681 houses by public utility societies, etc., similarly assisted. Of the 121,317 houses covered by the arrangements, 8,140 were completed and 30,405 were in course of construction. The average cost, in March, 1924, of houses provided by Local Authorities under the Act was £416 for a non-parlour house and £459 for a parlour house. On the same date 208,712 houses had been completed under the Housing Acts of 1919, 164,985 by Local Authorities, 39,186 by private builders, and 4,541 by public utility societies. 10,529 of these houses had been completed during the year. A further 4,094 houses included in schemes approved under the Acts were not completed at the end of the year. The estimated final cost of the schemes of Local Authorities under these Acts is £179,400,000. The number of houses known to the Department to have been provided during the year by private enterprise without assistance from public funds is 67,546 entered on the rate books during the year, and 37,593 under construction, or recently completed but not occupied, at the end of the year. Of the 67,546 houses entered on the rate books during the year, 49,439 were of a rateable value not exceeding £26 a year (or in the Metropolitan Police District £35 a year). Unemployment. The continued prevalence of unemployment has affected the work of the Department at many points. The average weekly number of persons in receipt of Poor Law relief during the year, though it was less by over 200,000 than last year, was more than one and a quarter millions. More than one in five of these persons were relieved in fifteen out of the 642 Poor Law Unions. The scope of the work of the Unemployment Grants Committee has been extended to enable them to make grants to public utility companies who undertake in return to proceed with schemes which would otherwise have been deferred. The Committee approved for grant during the year schemes estimated to cost over twenty-four and a quarter million pounds, of which nearly twenty-two and a half millions was for schemes of Local Authorities. Special provision was again made for preserving the continuous insurance, and so far as possible the title to benefits, of unemployed persons covered by the National Health Insurance Acts. School of Hygiene. The necessary preliminaries to the application of the Rockfeller Foundation's gift for the establishment of this School have been completed by the grant of a Charter providing for the constitution of the Governing Body, and by the appointment of a Director, Dr. Andrew Balfour. Special Inquiries. The Royal Commission on Local Government continued their inquiry during the year, and four volumes of Minutes of Evidence taken before them have been published*. The Government undertook to recommend the appointment of a Royal Commission to inquire into the National Health Insurance system†, and of a Royal Commission to inquire into lunacy law and administration. The Voluntary Hospitals Commission have completed the allocation of the grant of £500,000 entrusted to them for distribution; and have now undertaken an inquiry into the extent of the need for additional accommodation in voluntary hospitals, and the best means of providing and maintaining it. A Court of Inquiry, presided over by Mr. T. R. Hughes, K.C., examined and reported during the year upon the question of the amount of the capitation fee to be paid to insurance practitioners§. * See page 3 of the cover of this Report for particulars of contents. See page 104 of this Report. See page 36 of this Report. § See pages 104 -5 of this Report. |