§ Colonel WEDGWOODasked the Minister of Pensions whether he will look into the case of J. W. Barnett, of Limps-field, Surrey, late lance-corporal of the 17th Middlesex, discharged from the Army on 24th July, 1919, with an amputated thigh; whether this man's pre-War occupation was that of a scaffolding carpenter; whether he learnt boot-mending while in hospital at Brighton, and now desires to set up as a boot repairer, as his disability prevents him from returning to his pre-War occupation; whether the Godstone War Pensions Committee strongly recommended that a grant of £100 should be made in order to enable him to get a workshop and the necessary equipment for boot repairing; whether an application was made for this purpose to the Civil Liabilities Depart- 1973W ment in August, 1919, but received no reply till February, 1920, when the application was refused; whether a second application was made, after a private interview on the case, in reply to which a grant of £50 was allowed; and whether he can state why the Civil Liabilities Department has refused to accede the full grant recommended by the Godstone War Pensions Committee, and has done nothing in the matter till nearly a year after the first application was made?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAI have been asked to reply. The facts as set out in my hon. and gallant Friend's question are substantially correct, but the application which was made by this man, although dated 4th August, 1919, was not received by the Civil Liabilities Department from the War Pensions Committee concerned until the 22nd October, 1919. At about that date the Department was undergoing re-organisation in order that it might be able to deal with the 70,000 odd cases to which I referred in my answer on 29th June last in reply to a question put by my hon. Friend the Member for the Macclesfield Division (Mr. Remer). Furthermore, the policy in regard to giving grants to trainees who had received training at the public expense had not been settled with the Treasury, and when this was done, shortly after, there was a very considerable accumulation of applications by trainees which had to be dealt with. In all these circumstances delay was, unfortunately, inevitable. A provisional grant of £50 was subsequently made on the 8th March, 1920; and, after further communication with the Local War Pensions Committee, this was paid on the 19th May, 1920. Of the sum of £50, £30 was given towards the purchase of boot-repairing tools, the amount which experience has shown was generally adequate in such a case, and the balance of £20 was given in the very special circumstances disclosed to enable the applicant to purchase a movable hut to be used as a workshop. I should add that the case is now under reconsideration with a view to seeing whether any additional grant can properly be made, and I have given instructions for the decision to be expedited.