§ 42. Colonel Ropnerasked the Minister of Pensions how many cases of psychoneurosis of ex-Servicemen have been accepted as due to war service and pensionable as a result of the last war and the 1914–18 war, respectively; what 2082 proportion have been rejected; and whether he proposes to take any steps in the near future to improve the arrangements for dealing with such cases.
§ Mr. Wilfred PalingApproximately 30,000 awards of compensation have been made to persons suffering from disablement due to psychoneurosis arising out of the 1939 war, as compared with 47,000 in which my Department has notified the formal rejection of a claim in respect of that condition. In addition there have been a further 47,000 persons invalided on account of psychoneurosis who have at no time made or inferred anything in the nature of a claim. I am sorry that the records of my Department do not enable me to give the corresponding figures for the 1914–18 war. I am not clear what arrangements the hon. and gallant Member has in mind. The general principles governing entitlement to pension are set out in Command Papers 6459 and 6714 and the presumptions in a claimant's favour are applied in cases of psychoneurosis as in other cases.