HC Deb 06 May 1957 vol 569 c612
6. Mr. H. Hynd

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance whether he is yet in a position to state the result of his consideration of requests made by the deputation from the British Legion and other organisations on 20th March last.

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

No, Sir.

Mr. Hynd

Is it not rather discourteous that no reply has been given after six or seven weeks to these very influential bodies, representing some hundreds of thousands of members? As the Minister must have thought about the subject before he received the deputation, can he give any indication when he is likely to be able to say what the result is going to be?

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

The hon. Gentleman does not appear to be aware, notwithstanding the Answer I gave to his hon. Friend the Member for West Ham, North (Mr. Lewis) a few days ago, that a very large number of highly complicated issues were raised by the deputation which came to see me, and I think it would be more discourteous if I gave a hurried and off-the-cuff answer.

Mr. Hynd

If I ask the Question next week, will the right hon. Gentleman be able to give an answer?

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

That is a hypothetical question.