§ 16. Mr. T. KENNEDYasked the Minister of Pensions whether instructions have been issued to local officers to accept applications for pension from men suffering from wounds or injuries due to war service in cases where the applicant has been discharged more than seven years; and whether in these cases it is proposed to award pensions if the degree of disablement justifies the issue of a pension?
§ Major TRYONI would refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave on the 10th December last to the hon. Member for King's Norton (Mr. Dennison), of which I am sending him a copy.
I have issued instructions that in the rare case where an old wound, thought to have been healed, has now broken down, and the man is in need of urgent surgical treatment, immediate steps shall be taken to provide such treatment. I am advised that such cases are, for the most part, restored by treatment, but if in any such case the man is found after treatment to be seriously incapacitated, consideration will be given to the making of a grant appropriate to the case.
§ Mr. KENNEDYWill that new policy apply to all forms of disability and not only to wounds and other injuries—will it apply also to the general physical condition of the man?
§ Major TRYONI cannot state the whole policy of the Ministry in reply to a supplementary question. It only means that the policy which the Government said they were going to carry out has been carried out.