§ 39. Mr. STEPHENasked the Minister of Pensions whether he is aware that Mr. Alexander Bouik, late 989, Scottish Rifles, 315148, Royal Army Medical Corps, was refused electrical hearing-aid from the Ministry while resident in Glasgow; that such treatment was granted to him when later he was resident in the London area, but that on returning to 1987 Glasgow he was informed by the local area officer that it was not permissible to renew the aid-to-hearing appliance supplied to him in April, 1934; that he is receiving a smaller disability pension than similar cases in the southern area; and whether he will set up a committee of inquiry to ensure that more uniform treatment is afforded to pensioners throughout the country?
§ The MINISTER of PENSIONS (Mr. Ramsbotham)There is no difference in the Ministry's practice as between one part of the Kingdom and another. Mr. Bouik is in receipt of pension of 30 per cent., which is in fact the average rate of pension for his disablement. With regard to the particular complaint, the facts are that no electrical instrument suited to Mr. Bouik's case was available in 1920 when his defective hearing was originally attended to in Glasgow. The first application for such an instrument was only made by him in 1934, when he was duly supplied with one. A new instrument, which the pensioner had requested, to replace one so recently supplied as in his case, is not issued if the existing one is susceptible of repair, and following his further representations the present appliance was called up for examination a week ago and the necessary repairs put in hand.