§ 16. Mr. Parkinasked the Minister of Pensions whether the Report of the Interdepartmental Committee on the Assessment of Disablement due to Specified Injuries has been received; if it is proposed to publish it; and what action he intends to take in the matter.
Mr. PalingMy right hon. Friend the Minister of National Insurance and I have received the report in question and copies of it will be available to the Vote Office tonight. It is my intention to apply the assessments recommended in the report to the cases of war disablement dealt with by my Department. The new rates will apply with effect from the first pay day in April. Pension cases of the 1939 War will be reviewed automatically, but it will take about three months to complete this task.
It would not be possible without undue expenditure of time and labour to trace the pensioners of the 1914 War in receipt of pensions for amputation who may be entitled in future to a higher rate, and pensioners of that War will have to apply for review. To facilitate this, I will arrange for suitable publicity to be given to the types of case affected.
§ Mr. ParkinHas the Minister made any estimate of the number of pensioners who 1058 will derive benefit from the new conditions?