2. Mr. TREVELYAN THOMSONasked the Minister of Pensions whether he is aware of the great hardship caused to many pensioners by the discontinuance of the practice of making advances when delays occur in the re-issue of ring papers, and that the plan of issuing priority postcard after four days' delay does not meet the case; and, under these circumstances, will he revert to the old practice of allowing advances to be made by pension committees in all cases where the delay is in no way due to any fault of the pensioner?
§ Major TRYONI would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Bow and Bromley on this subject on the 19th April last, of which I am sending him a copy. I would add that under the new system the priority postcard is sent at once, and not after four days' delay, as suggested in the first part of the question. I am not prepared to adopt the suggestion in the last part of the question.
Mr. THOMSONIf the right hon. Gentleman can have cases brought to his notice showing that this hardship does continue, will he reconsider the matter?
§ Major TRYONI have this morning examined a list of the causes through which these delays occur, and by far the greatest cause of the delay is the failure of the ex-service men to send their life certificates. That difficulty is not touched by the hon. Member's suggestion. It will be a great relief when they are only required every six months instead of every three months.
Mr. THOMSONCan the right hon. Gentleman reconsider the matter where the fault is in no way due to any mistake on the part of the pensioner, but due to mistakes on the part of his own officers?
§ Major TRYONNo. The new system, which is being watched in its working, is a better one, and it was introduced in order to avoid the confusion and delay of recovering over-payments which arose under the old system.