§ 27. Mr. HAYDN JONESasked the Pensions Minister whether, in the event of birth certificates being required by the Ministry, such certificates are to be obtained from the registrar free of charge?
§ Sir A. GRIFFITH-BOSCAWENUpon application to the Registrar-General at Somerset House a Verification Statement, containing all the particulars required by the Pensions Ministry in certification of birth, will be supplied free of charge. The Registrar-General has no authority to compel local registrars to 1699 forego their fees, but I understand that in many cases the registrars have, of their own accord, offered concessions to applicants of whom certificates are required for pension purposes.
§ Mr. HOGGEWill the hon. and gallant Member make arrangements whereby the local registrars can supply them in the same way as Somerset House?
§ Sir A. GRIFFITH-BOSCAWENThat is really a matter of fact. These are statutory charges which they are entitled to make, and we have no power.
28. Major DAVIESasked how many inspectors, sub-inspectors, or representatives of the Ministry of Pensions have been appointed in different parts of the country; what salaries are attached to these posts; and whether he can state how many of these appointments have been given to discharged and disabled soldiers?
§ Sir A. GRIFFITH-BOSCAWENThere are 55 officers on the outdoor staff, 16 being superintending inspectors and 39 inspectors. The pay of the former is £400 to £500 a year, and of the latter £300 to £400. Of the 38 appointments recently made 28 are held by men who have been discharged from the Army or Navy after service in the present War. The 17 remaining officers, of whom two have served in the War, were transferred to the Ministry from the Statutory Committee.
§ Sir A. GRIFFITH-BOSCAWENThey were appointed on probation for six months, and then for three years if approved.
§ Brigadier-General McCALMONTWill the hon. and gallant Gentleman say why these appointments should not be entirely confined to ex-Service men?
§ Sir A. GRIFFITH-BOSCAWENYes. The reason was simply this: It was absolutely necessary to have some who have had previous pensions experience, and it was very difficult to find such men who had served in the Army and the Navy. Therefore, we were obliged to take a certain number of men who had had previous 1700 experience as clerks to pensions committees and men of that sort, otherwise the administration could not have been satisfactorily carried out.
§ Captain ALBERT SMITHAre any of these men Class A?
§ Sir A. GRIFFITH-BOSCAWENI do not think any one of them is, and of those transferred from the Statutory Committee nearly everyone is over military age, and I think the men are Grade III. or something like that.
29. Major DAVIESasked the Pensions Minister whether he will consider the advisability of decentralising the work of the Special Grants Committee and give power to the local war pensions committee to make provision for the medical treatment of the widows, wives, and children of soldiers; and whether he is prepared to issue the necessary Regulations to ensure this being done.
§ Sir A. GRIFFITH-BOSCAWENI assume that the hon. and gallant Member is referring to the sickness Grants which can be made under the Regulations of the Special Grants Committee, because I have already informed him that no other provision for medical treatment is at present in contemplation. With regard to these Grants, the local committees are already empowered to act on their own responsibility to the extent of awarding Grants up to 5s. a week for a maximum period of thirteen weeks. The Special Grants Committee consider it advisable to retain in their own hands the control of Grants of larger amount or extending over a longer period.
§ 80. Mr. SNOWDENasked the Financial Secretary to the War Office why the mother of Gunner W. Blackburn, No. 258,221, No. 16 Hut, C Battalion, Bettisfield Park, has not been paid any separation allowance on account of her son, notwithstanding that evidence has been produced from the soldier's employer that he was earning 25s. a week before enlistment?
§ The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the WAR OFFICE (Mr. Forster)I am informed that this allowance has now been paid with effect from the date on which the soldier joined the Colours in February last.
§ 81. Mr. SNOWDENasked the Financial Secretary to the War Office why attention 1701 has not been given to the letter from the dependant of Private R. Thompson, No. 3966, 4th East Lancashire Regiment, asking for the payment of arrears of separation allowance for the period between the 6th July, 1915, and the 21st September, 1915, and which communication was acknowledged by the Secretary to the War Office, St. Martin's Place, on the 12th July, 1917; and if immediate attention will be given to the matter?
§ Mr. FORSTERThe case was duly investigated on receipt of the dependant's complaint. It was ascertained that no arrears were due, the soldier having claimed separation allowance on 2nd September, 1915, from which date the allowance was correctly issued. I regret that the clerk dealing with the case, who has since left the office, omitted to communicate with the dependant.