HC Deb 18 June 1928 vol 218 cc1413-4
27. Mr. JOHNSTON

asked the Minister of Pensions whether any instructions have been issued to local medical officers of the Ministry of Pensions urging the curtailment of treatment allowances paid in respect of ex-service men suffering from tuberculosis?

The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the MINISTRY of HEALTH (Lieut.-Colonel Stanley)

No instructions have been issued in the sense suggested. I would refer the hon. Member to the answer which my right hon. Friend gave to the hon. Member for the Elland Division of Yorkshire (Mr. Robinson) on the 10th November last, of which I am sending him a copy.

Mr. R. MORRISON

Can the hon. and gallant Member say why it seems to be almost impossible for ex-service men to get treatment allowance except by going into a Ministry of Pensions hospital?

Viscountess ASTOR

Does the hon. and gallant Member not think that rumours of this kind that get out are cruel to the ex-service men, because there is no truth in them?

Lieut.-Colonel STANLEY

No one regrets these rumours more than we do, but I do not see how we can stop them. The reply to the supplementary question of the hon. Member for Tottenham (Mr. Morrison) is that it depends entirely upon whether the treatment the man has to undergo will prevent him from working. If it prevents him from working he gets treatment allowance. If it does not, he is not eligible.

Mr. MORRISON

Will the hon. and gallant Member agree that it is more difficult for ex-service men to get treatment allowance now than it was before?

Lieut.-Colonel STANLEY

Certainly not.

Viscountess ASTOR

Has not the real difficulty been that men who get treatment will go off before their treatment is finished? Would there be any way of guaranteeing that they would stay until they are discharged as practically cured?

Lieut.-Colonel STANLEY

We have no power to keep a man if he does not wish to stay.

Mr. STEPHEN

Can the Minister inform us whether there is any consultation with the Treasury on the cases before any treatment allowance is given?

Lieut.-Colonel STANLEY

No, Sir, certainly not, and never has been.

Mr. HARDIE

Is it not a fact—I know it is so in my own constituency—that the hon. and gallant Member is receiving cases every day which are in direct contradiction to what he has stated?

Lieut.-Colonel STANLEY

No, Sir. That is not the case at all.

Mr. HARDIE

It is the case. The Ministry have had cases from myself.

Lieut.-Colonel STANLEY

The hon. Member says he has cases of that kind, knit, if he does not send them to the Ministry of Pensions.

Mr. FIARDIE

What is the use of doing that? They do not get attention.