HC Deb 27 January 1943 vol 386 cc571-2
Mr. Peake

I beg to move, in page 6, line 9, at the end, to add: or to which he has been removed for medical treatment. This Clause provides that in such cases and subject to such conditions as the Secretary of State may direct, a workman claiming to be suffering from a scheduled disease may obtain a certificate for the purposes of the Act from the examining surgeon in the district where he resides instead of the examining surgeon in the district in which he was employed. There may be cases where a workman is removed for treatment to a hospital which is neither in the district where he was employed nor in the district where he resides, and the proposed Amendment is to cover such a contingency.

Mr. Foster (Wigan)

Did I understand the Under-Secretary to say that it is only in cases where a man is actually in hospital where this will apply, or will it apply whether a man is in hospital or not, that he can be examined by the examining surgeon for that particular area?

Mr. Peake

There are three districts where a certificate may be obtained; either the district in which the workman was employed and the injury took place; or, secondly, the district in which the workman resides at the time; or, thirdly, if he has been taken to hospital in neither of these two districts he can apply to the examining surgeon in the district where the hospital is situated.

Mr. David Grenfell (Gower)

A man may be working in a place and living near the mine; he may move his residence to some other place. He may also be asked to remove for medical treatment. There are four alternatives. He may be living now in a place other than that in which he was living at the time of the injury, but that does not debar him?

Mr. Peake

The Amendment provides for examination in the district where the workman resides, that is to say, resides at the time of the application for the certificate after the accident.

Mr. Isaacs (Southwark, North)

This Amendment is very valuable, and I am very glad to know that these words have been added. Merchant seamen may have been injured or have suffered disease while serving abroad, and may be landed at a port where they neither work nor reside. They have suffered hardship and inconvenience on this account, and these words will be welcomed by merchant seamen.

Amendment agreed to.

Clause, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Remaining Clauses ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Schedule agreed to.

Bill reported, with Amendments; as amended, considered; read the Third time, and passed.