§ 1. Mr. SMEDLEY CROOKEasked the Minister of Pensions if he will consider the advisability of amending the Regulations giving the pensioner suffering from a disability subsistence allowance if away from home for medical board for a period of four hours, as the 10 hours' minimum, as at present, acts hardly on those especially who have a wife and family to sustain solely on the pension?
§ The MINISTER of PENSIONS (Major Tryon)The provision of subsistence allowance on the occasion of an officer or man summoned to a medical board is made on the principle of recompense for additional expenditure necessarily incurred in consequence of an absence from home substantially longer than would ordinarily have been involved in the course of employment. The present Regulations governing the matter have been in operation for the past eight years, and no general complaint has been made that they operate otherwise than fairly. In the circumstances, I regret that I do not see my way to recommend the adoption of my hon. Friend's suggestion.