Editing Beatrice Webb (section)

===1909 Minority report to the Royal Commission===
{{main|Minority report (Poor Law)}}
For four years Beatrice Webb was a member of the [[Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress 1905-09]]. The [[Unionist Government 1895–1905|Conservative government]] of [[Arthur Balfour|A. J. Balfour]] established the commission, which issued its final report to the [[Liberal Government 1905–1915|Liberal government]] of [[H. H. Asquith]].<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/01/2008_05_wed.shtml ''Woman's Hour'' discussion on 1909 Minority Report] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080630052433/http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/01/2008_05_wed.shtml |date=30 June 2008 }}, BBC Radio 4, 2008.</ref><ref>Wallis, Ed (editor). ''From the Workhouse to Welfare'' Fabian Society and Webb Memorial Trust, 2009.</ref> Beatrice was the lead author of the dissenting [[Minority report (Poor Law)|minority report]]. This sketched the outlines of a [[Welfare State]] which would:

<blockquote>...secure a national minimum of civilised life ... open to all alike, of both sexes and all classes, by which we meant sufficient nourishment and training when young, a living wage when able-bodied, treatment when sick, and modest but secure livelihood when disabled or aged.</blockquote>

With the minority report, she advocated for more aid towards those who were disabled and supported the use of outside relief for infants in [[workhouses]], which often were in poor condition and unsafe. The ''Minority Report'' emphasized proper medical care and child-well as provisions needed to the ''[[Poor Law]]''.<ref>Platt, Lucinda. "Beatrice Webb's Minority Report." LSE History, 4 Oct. 2023, 
blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsehistory/2018/02/23/beatrice-webb-william-beveridge-poverty-and-the-minority-rep
ort-on-the-poor-law/. Accessed 28 February 2024.</ref> 
[[William Beveridge]], future author of the 1942 [[Beveridge Report]] that introduced the welfare state in the United Kingdom, worked as a researcher for the Webbs on the Minority Report.<ref>[[Jose Harris|Harris, Jose]], "The Webbs and Beveridge", in ''From Workhouse to Welfare'' (Fabian Society, 2009).</ref> He was later appointed director (1919–1937) of the London School of Economics.