§ 70. Mr. LOOKERasked the Minister of Pensions if, in view of complaints regarding 33 the attitude of the pensions appeal tribunals to the cases laid before them, he will take steps to draw the attention of such tribunals to the desirability of their giving the greatest possible amount of sympathetic consideration to such cases?
§ Colonel GIBBS (Treasurer of the Household)The functions of the pensions appeal tribunals are purely judicial, and in exercising them they are bound by the relevant statutes and Royal Warrants. The tribunals are directed, by the rules made under the Act, to assist any appellant who, through ignorance or otherwise, is unable to make the best of his case, and I have no doubt that they fulfil this obligation and that they give to any appellant before them the benefit of any reasonable doubt.