§ 4. Miss HORSBRUGHasked the Secretary of State for Scotland the number of persons in Scotland from whom the pension under the Blind Persons Act has been withdrawn during the years 1930, 1931, and until the latest convenient date in 1932?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for SCOTLAND (Mr. Skelton)I regret. that I am unable to give the information asked for. Under Section 8 of the Old Age Pensions Act, 1908, as applied by the Blind Persons Act, 1920, claims for these pensions are dealt with by the local pension committees after inquiry and report by the local pension officers, and the function of the Department of Health is confined to determining appeals against the award, refusal or withdrawal of pensions. I may add that so far as the Department know almost every case of withdrawal of pension has been followed by an appeal. The numbers of appeals against withdrawals in the years 1930, 1931 and 1932 (up to date) are, respectively, 39, 31, and 40.
§ Miss HORSBRUGHIs there any reason to believe that the procedure this year has been any different from that of other years?
§ Mr. SKELTONNo, I do not think there is any reason to believe that. In 1931 a circular was issued by the Department of Health, in conjunction with the Scottish Education Department, standardising the features that amount to blindness. That was done not merely for the purposes of this Act, but wherever a certificate of blindness was required.