§ 12. Mr. Frank Allaunasked the Secretary of State for War why he has refused the release on compassionate grounds of a National Service man whose widowed mother lives alone and who is so stricken with arthritis that she requires the assistance of a home help, details of whose case have been sent him.
§ Mr. J. AmeryI have received a very full report on this case, which I have considered with sympathy. I am afraid that this is not a case where release from National Service would be justified.
§ Mr. AllaunIs the Minister aware that this widow is a registered disabled person?
§ Mr. AmeryThe lady in question lives alone. She has arthritis, but I am advised that she is not seriously ill. She does her own shopping and housework. The son is free to go home each week-end.
Mr. T. WilliamsSurely the physical disability of this widow should have brought such a case within the confines of the statement which the hon. Member made on 1st July, when he said,
The run-down of the Army has made it possible … to interpret hardship more generously than hitherto."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 3rd July, 1957; Vol. 572, c. 1279.]This is the case of a widowed lady living alone and suffering acutely from rheumatoid arthritis. Is not such a case one for compassion?
§ Mr. AmeryWe have re-examined the case in the light of the more generous rules prevailing since the announcement of the run-down. Even so, it is not possible to do what the right hon. Gentleman wishes without causing unfairness to other parents of National Service men.
§ Mr. StracheyCan the hon. Member say what is the purpose of refusing these applications now? It has been agreed that we wish to reduce the number of men called up for National Service, not to increase it. Surely this type of borderline case could now be dealt with much more sympathetically.
§ Mr. AmeryAs I explained in the debate on 3rd July, we have doubled the rate of compassionate release by comparison with last year.
§ 13. Mr. Frank Allaunasked the Secretary of State for War why release on compassionate grounds is being refused to National Service men in cases of exceptional hardship, contrary to Government undertakings, and even where the widowed mothers are suffering chronic illness.
§ Mr. J. AmeryCompassionate release is invariably granted when there is exceptional hardship. I explained the position in detail during the Adjournment debate on 3rd July.
§ Mr. AllaunIs the Minister aware that on 4th March the Government stated four circumstances in which exceptional hardship was likely to arise? I can show him letters from widowed mothers all over the country saying that the Government are breaking their undertaking. Was not one of those four circumstances that of a widow with a child or children to support? Now, four months later, I am told that this was a misprint in HANSARD and should have read "widower" and not "widow". Why not a widowed mother?