HC Deb 21 January 1918 vol 101 cc650-1
16. Major DAVID DAVIES

asked the Pensions Minister whether he is aware that, with the exception of the Wrexham garden village training centre, there is at present no technical training centre or orthopædic institution for special treatment available in North Wales; and whether he will consider the advisability of amalgamating the two Joint Statutory Committees of North and South Wales, so that the requirements of discharged soldiers in Wales may be dealt with by one Committee, who will have regard to the provision of training and treatment for the whole of Wales?

The MINISTER of PENSIONS (Mr. Hodge)

I have no power to amalgamate the two Joint Committees, which are voluntary associations of local committees formed under the Act of 1915, and I doubt whether any suggestion for such amalgamation would be acceptable to either body. The fact of this separate existence of the two sub-committees is not, however, a bar to the common use of institutions and training centres in Wales. The hospital at Llandridod Spa, which I am arranging should take 150 cases, will be available to the whole country, as is already Wrexham, for orthopædic treatment. The general arrangements for training include the transfer of a man from one area to another u here this is necessary.