§ 29. Major McCallumasked the Minister of Pensions if he will speed up the arrangements by which pension appeals submitted to the appeal tribunals can be heard; and if he will consider the appointment of more tribunals in view of the great hardship caused to the appellants by the long delay in arriving at decisions in these cases.
§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Pensions (Mr. Blenkinsop)Considerable progress has been made in disposing of entitlement appeals and those still outstanding will be dealt with as quickly as possible. Recent decisions of the High Court and Court of Sessions are, however, necessitating a more detailed statement of the Ministry's reasons for rejection and this inevitably affects the speed with which cases can be prepared. The appointment of tribunals is not the responsibility of my right hon. Friend, but I have no reason to think that the hearing of appeals is being held up owing to a lack of tribunals.
§ Major McCallumIs the Minister aware that in Scotland in particular long delays take place before the appeals come before tribunals? One case in particular which I have referred to his Department from time to time has now taken two years. It has just come before the tribunal.
§ Mr. BlenkinsopI am prepared to look into any cases of that sort to see whether a case can be made out for further tribunals. I would urge that it is not the responsibility of my right hon. Friend to deal with the actual setting up of these tribunals.