§ 34. Mr. Swinglerasked the Minister of Supply if he will reconsider the compensation claim of Miss Edith Rowley, about whom the hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme has written to him, submitting a medical report, in respect of the consequences of an accident in a Royal Ordnance factory on 9th July, 1943.
§ Mr. W. J. TaylorI will certainly consider what scope there may be for reviewing this case further. I am writing to the hon. Member about it.
§ Mr. SwinglerWill the hon. Gentleman assure me that he will consider this case with his advisers rather more carefully than was done previously? Is he aware that I submitted a report from a distinguished consultant of the North Staffs. Infirmary saying that Miss Rowley never fully recovered from the 1943 accident, and that on 19th March he sent me a letter saying:
The Treasury… suggest that, if Miss Rowley is dissatisfied with the assessment of her condition, she should write to the National Insurance officer and give her reasons, and ask him to confirm that the benefit awarded"—that is, for a later accident:is related to her entire disability including any residual effects of the earlier accident in 1943.Is not the Treasury aware that this earlier accident cannot be taken into account by the Ministry of Pensions because it occurred before the Industrial Injuries Act was passed? Will not the hon. Gentleman therefore consider this case rather more compassionately and rather more accurately?
§ Mr. TaylorI have read the detailed medical report sent to me by the hon. Member, and I must say that it contains 23 a great deal with which I am impressed. There, are, however, other Government Departments involved—as, indeed, he has just indicated—and I cannot answer for them. But I have given an undertaking to look at the matter again, and I hope that the hon. Gentleman will await my letter and not press me further now.