§ 59. Major COHENasked the Minister of Pensions whether he will inform the House of the number of claims submitted outside the seven years' time limit which have been referred to the medical experts for advice; the result of the advice given in each case, and whether such advice has been acted upon by him?
Mr. ROBERTSUp to date about 30 cases of material doubt or difficulty have been or are being referred to the in- 624 dependent medical consultants for consideration and advice. Of these, 15 have so far been considered, with results unfavourable to the claim in 14 cases and favourable in one.
§ 60. Major COHENasked the Minister of Pensions the number of claims for pension that have been submitted by officers and men outside the statutory time limit of seven years; the number of such claims that have been conceded; the number that have been definitely rejected; and the number of claims that have been submitted under this heading since November, 1929, and the number admitted?
Mr. ROBERTSI have no record of the total number of applications which have at any time been submitted, but the number of such applications which have been admitted by the Ministry, either by way of pension or treatment, during the eight and a half years up to 30th April last since the time limit became operative, is between 1,000 and 1,100. In the period since November last, some 11,400 fresh applications have been received, and 318 have been accepted for compensation by way of treatment or pension. It will be understood that all the applications have not as yet been dealt with.