MAJORITY REPORT.
161
y:
oy
———
and the Cheshire Insurance Committee (App. XXXIV). We
will here attempt to give in broad outline an account of that
work
THE WORK OF INSURANCE COMMITTEES.
877. Insurance Committees, of which there are 128 in England
and 17 in Wales, were constituted for every County and County
Borough. Three-fifths of the total membership of each Com-
Wittee are appointed so as to secure representation of the insured
Persons resident in the area of the Committee. One-fifth are
appointed by the County or County Borough Council. Of the
fémaining fifth two are medical practitioners appointed to repre-
Sent the medical practitioners in the area, one is a medical prac-
titioner appointed by the County or County Borough Council,
and the others are appointed by the Minister. In Scotland
there are 54 Committees constituted for the Counties and for
the Burghs of 20,000 population and over, and the membership
18 allocated in very much the same way as is described above,
878. It will be seen that the object of the somewhat complicated
arrangements for the membership is to secure majority repre-
entation for the insured persons; and at the same time affiliation
to the Local Authority in its general aspects, to the T.ocal
Authority in its medical aspects, and to the body of practitioners in
the area; and to include a small element deriving authority from
the Central Departments.
379. Originally the Committees in England consisted of from
40 to 80 members, but in the interests of economy these numbers
Were reduced to one half by the Act of 1921. In Scotland, how-
ever, the original numbers were retained. Normally, members
of Committees hold office for three years, but the Committees
themselves are corporate bodies with perpetual succession. The
Dumber of insured persons for whom the Committees severally
are responsible varies very widely. In England, at one end of
the scale is the Scilly Isles with 375, and Rutlandshire with
6,000; at the other, Tiondon with 1,700,000.
380. The work of Insurance Committees may be broadly
classified under the following five heads :—
(1) the arrangements for medical benefit ;
(2) inquiries into complaints arising from the provision
of medical benefit, including the supply of drugs;
(3) inquiries into the causes of excessive sickness in the
area of the Committee and the consequential affixing of
liability -
3 (4) propaganda as to health by means of lectures, leaflets.
&e. ;
(5) administration of the cash benefits of certain special
classes, viz., deposit contributors and members of the Navy.
Army and Air Force Instrance Fund.
