§ 22. Mr. FREDERICK ROBERTSasked the Minister of Pensions whether it is the practice, in the case of disabled ex-service men certified by the Pensions Ministry Medical Referee as totally incapacitated by War service, and where the disapility has been admitted by the Ministry as due to service, to pay a lesser rate than full pension in such cases; and if so, can he give the reasons for such policy?
§ Major TRYONIn cases of disability accepted by the Ministry as due to War service, pension is always awarded at the rate appropriate to the degree of disablement certified by the medical board by whom the man is examined. If, as I assume, the hon. Member has in mind claims based on deterioration, I would point out that in such cases the man is referred for examination by a medical referee, not for an assessment for pension purposes, but for a preliminary expression of opinion on the merits of the claim. If the medical referee supports the claim the man is then examined by a board whose assessment is accepted and acted upon, whether higher or lower than the estimate given by the medical referee.
§ Mr. F. ROBERTSIs any notice taken of the opinion of the medical referee as to the man being totally incapacitated?
§ Major TRYONCertainly, we do attend to the medical referee's opinion. In order to deal promptly with cases, we grant an allowance to carry on with The object is to enable us to deal with the claim of a man who has got worse; otherwise the man's claim would not be settled for a considerable time.