HC Deb 30 March 1920 vol 127 cc1068-9
44. Mr. DUNCAN GRAHAM

asked the Pensions Minister whether he is aware that discharged soldiers who have been wounded or who have contracted disease during their service in the Army, and are consequently unfit to resume their former occupations, are being certified by medical boards in the industrial districts of Scotland as being fit for light employment, which form of employment is being withheld from them either because of the inability or unwillingness of she employers to provide it; is he aware that many of the decisions of the medical boards are opposed to the opinions held by the panel doctors regarding the fitness of the men affected for work; and whether he will agree to set up a tribunal, composed exclusively of Members of this House, whose functions shall be to determine the question of whether the views held by the panel doctors or the medical board accurately describe the men's condition?

Sir J. CRAIG

The hon. Member is presumably referring to Medical Referees, as medical boards do not certify fitness for work. It is contrary to instructions for a Medical Referee to certify any man as "fit for light employment," whenever a case of this kind is brought to notice the attention of the Medical Referee at fault is drawn to it. My right hon. Friend does not think it necessary to set up a tribunal such as is suggested in the last part of the question.