MAJORITY REPORT.
[73
BE —.
to be maintained, but the accounts are all kept by the Con
Department and the calculations of the benefit due are
made there.
393. Similarly, in connexion with the administration of the
benefits of the members of the Navy, Army and Air Force Insur-
ance Fund, there is nothing that in fact calls for control by a
large body of the type of an Insurance Committee.
Points FROM THE HVIDENCE.
394. With this review of the work of Insurance Com-
Mittees before us we may now turn to what witnesses have
t say on the matter.
395. Taking first the evidence which we received from certain
of the Insurance Committees themselves, we were informed by
the Coveniry Insurance Committee App. XXXII, 30;
Q. 12,240, 12,226-12,273, 12,305-12,316) that they had no wish to
Derpetuate these bodies as they are at present constituted and
With their present limited functions, but suggest that ** the
Insurance Committees’ current organisation is such that it can
mediately and with considerable economy be utilised for
extended administrative work, or brought into organic relation-
ship with the local authority.” The Cheshire Insurance Com-
Wittee (App. XXXIV B, 40-50 ; Q. 12,454, 12, 457-12,458, 12,513)
State that the Insurance Committee is truly representative of
local interests, and feel that ‘* to scrap the machinery of Insur-
dhce Committees or to make it a subsidiary part of a greater
Machine would be disastrous to insured persons,” and they call
for the continuance and enlargement of their duties. The
Leicestershire Insurance Committee (Q. 12,663-12,665) main-
tain that the Committees are in close touch with insured
Persons and are familiar with local conditions, and they
®Xpress the opinion that the District Councils and County
Councils would not be prepared to take over the work
a5 they are already overburdened. The view expressed
by the British Medical Association (App... XLVII, 46-47)
15 that ‘the local administration of all health services
should be in the hands of a local authority established ad hoc,”
and the Association suggest that a unification of medical services
Such as they contemplate would involve the disappearance, as
Such, of Insurance Committees. The Retail Pharmacists’ Union
(App. LXV, 82; Q. 18,091) recommend the retention of the
Present method of administering medical benefit through Insur-
ance Committees. Mr. Alban Gordon, who speaks from some
Practical experience, as he was Clerk to the Coventry Insurance
Committee in 1912, a member of the London Insurance Com-
Mittee from 1913 to 1921, and a member of the Brighton In-
Surance Committee during 1924 and 1925, states: ‘° The
Continued existence of Insurance Committees with their present
