Cancer Act 1939

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
Citation1939 c. 13
Year1939


Cancer Act, 1939

(2 & 3 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 13.

An Act to make further provision for the treatment of cancer, to authorise the Minister of Health to lend money to the National Radium Trust, to prohibit certain advertisements relating to cancer, and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.

[29th March 1939]

Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

S-1 Duty of local authorities.

1 Duty of local authorities.

(1) It shall be the duty of the council of every county and county borough in England and Wales to make arrangements to secure that the facilities for the treatment of persons suffering from cancer are adequate for the needs of the county or borough, and to submit its arrangements for the approval of the Minister within one year from the commencement of this Act or such longer period as the Minister may in any case allow.

(2) The arrangements so submitted by any such council shall include arrangements—

(a ) for facilitating the diagnosis of cancer;

(b ) for the treatment of cancer either in hospitals maintained by the council or in hospitals maintained by other councils or local authorities or in voluntary hospitals;

(c ) for the payment, in such eases as the council considers necessary, of all or any travelling expenses (including the travelling expenses of a companion) reasonably incurred by persons for the purpose of availing themselves of the services provided under the arrangements;

(d ) for such other matters as appear incidental to or consequential on the arrangements for the treatment of cancer.

(3) Before submitting arrangements to the Minister under this section a council shall consult—

(a ) such committees or other bodies as the council considers to represent both the governing bodies and the medical and surgical staffs of the voluntary hospitals providing services in or for the benefit of its area; and

(b ) such local organisations of registered medical practitioners as the council considers to represent the opinions of such practitioners practising in its area on the questions to be considered in making the arrangements.

(4) The Minister may approve, either with or without modifications, any arrangements submitted to him by a council under this section, and it shall be the duty of the council to carry its arrangements as approved by the Minister into effect.

(5) A council may from time to time, and shall when required by the Minister, make and submit to the Minister alterations or extensions of the arrangements made by the council under this section, and subsections (3) and (4) of this section shall apply to any such alterations or extensions as they apply to the original arrangements.

(6) Nothing in this section shall authorise the establishment by any council of a general domiciliary service by medical practitioners.

(7) The Public Health Act, 1936 , shall have effect as if this section, except in so far as it relates to the London County Council, were included in Part V of that Act.

(8) Without prejudice to the provisions of any enactment enabling councils of counties and county boroughs to co-operate or combine, the Minister may require two or more such councils to combine, to such extent and on such terms as he may, in default of agreement between the councils concerned, direct, for the purpose of making arrangements under this section.

(9) Any order or agreement constituting under any enactment a joint board or joint committee to discharge the functions of two or more councils under this section may provide for the co-option of such number of members of the board or committee as may be specified in the order or agreement:

Provided that the number so specified shall not exceed one-third of the total number of the members of the board or committee.

S-2 Financial provisions.

2 Financial provisions.

(1) The following provisions of this section shall have effect with a view to fulfilling the intentions of the Local Government Act, 1929 , as declared by section one hundred and thirty-five thereof, namely, that in the event of material additional expenditure being imposed on any class of local authorities by reason of the institution of a new service after the commencement of that Act, provision should be made for increased contributions out of moneys provided by Parliament.

(2) In respect of the year ending on the thirty-first day of March nineteen hundred and forty and of each subsequent year in the third and fourth fixed grant periods, there shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament, to the council of every county and county borough in England and Wales (hereafter in this section referred to as a ‘council’) on which additional expenditure is imposed by this Act in respect of that year, a grant calculated to the nearest pound by—

(a ) multiplying by the weighting factor one-half the amount of the additional expenditure so imposed on the council, and

(b ) dividing the product by the average weighting factor:

Provided that the amount of the grant payable under this subsection to any council shall not exceed seventeen-twentieths of the additional expenditure so imposed on that council.

(3) For the fifth and every subsequent fixed grant period, the General Exchequer Contribution shall include such increased contribution by reason of the additional expenditure imposed on any council by this Act as Parliament may hereafter determine.

(4) Grants payable under this section shall be payable at such times and in such manner as the Treasury may direct and subject to such conditions as to records, certificates, audit or otherwise as the Minister may, with the approval of the Treasury, determine.

(5) For the purpose of section one hundred and four of the Local Government Act, 1929 (which authorises the reduction of grants payable under Part VI of that Act to a council which fails to maintain an efficient service), grants payable under this section shall be deemed to be payable under the said Part VI.

(6) In determining for the purpose of section one of the Local Government (Financial Provisions) Act, 1937 , the amount of the rate and grant borne expenditure in the year ending on the thirty-first day of March nineteen hundred and forty-one, no account shall be taken of the additional expenditure imposed on any council in respect of that year by this Act.

(7) For the purpose of this section, expenditure incurred by a council in respect of any year in the provision of treatment for persons suffering from cancer shall be deemed to be additional expenditure imposed by this Act on that council in respect of that year if, and to the extent that, it is estimated to exceed the expenditure so incurred by that council in respect of the year ended on the thirty-first day of March nineteen hundred and thirty-eight.

(8) Any such estimate as aforesaid made for the purpose of subsection (2) or subsection (6) of this section shall be made to the satisfaction of the Minister in accordance with directions given by him after consultation with such associations of local authorities as appear to him to be concerned and with any council with which consultation appears to him to be desirable, and any such directions—

(a ) may provide that expenditure incurred by any council in the provision of treatment for persons suffering from cancer shall for the purposes of this section require the approval of the Minister; and

(b )...

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