§ 29. Mr. Stracheyasked the Secretary of State for War whether he will make arrangements which in future will avoid the discharge on medical grounds from the Army of persons who immediately previously have been accepted as medically fit.
§ 30 and 31. Mr. Nabarroasked the Secretary of State for War (1) whether, in view of the cost to public funds in- 1262 volved, he is satisfied with the present arrangements whereby a national service man, who is placed in Grade 1 at his pre-service medical examination, can be found unsuitable, on medical grounds, for military training after only a few days' service; and if he will consult with the Minister of Labour to see what improvements can be effected in the present system, in the interests of financial economy and administrative efficiency;
(2) on how many occasions during the past ten years soldiers, called up for military service under the National Service Acts, have been discharged after serving for seven days or less; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. SoamesThe medical authorities of the Ministry of Labour work closely with those of the Service Departments. They agree together the standards which are to be applied by pre-service medical boards.
Over the last nine years, 928,000 national service men entered the Army. Medical discharges during the initial period of service—that is up to sixteen weeks—numbered 11,000, or about one per cent. of the total. Those figures, which are the nearest I have to the ones asked for my my hon. Friend the Member for Kidderminster (Mr. Nabarro), include those cases in which disability could not have been established before service.
The figures show that it is rare for discharges to result from the diverging views of medical boards, and my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour and I have every confidence in the present system.
§ Mr. StracheyDoes not the Secretary of State see that his reply, which shows that this occurrence is comparatively rare, makes it all the worse that several very prominent individuals have been included in this very small category of persons who have been discharged on the second medical check-up; it is this which has caused public anxiety? Cannot the right hon. Gentleman see that very strenuous steps are taken better to co-ordinate these two medical authorities so that this does not occur?
§ Mr. SoamesThe right hon. Gentleman says "many cases", but I personally know of only two such cases out of a total of eleven thousand, which itself is one per cent. of the grand total.
§ Mr. NabarroIs my right hon. Friend aware that public indignation and disquiet have increased as a result of the wholly unsatisfactory series of answers given by the Parliamentary Secretary last Wednesday? Is he aware that there is really no excuse at all for Terry Dene, Marty Wilde, Colin Cowdrey and the remainder being able to evade military service on grounds evidently that they earn large sums of money in civil life or are prominent sportsmen, whereas the overwhelming majority of young men have to do their full two years?
If the Waters case merited a tribunal of inquiry, would it not be advisable, to allay public disquiet, that we should have a similar inquiry about Dene, with full disclosure of the facts, including the medical reports, so that the House and the country may then judge the veracity of the statements which have been made by the Army medical authorities?
§ Mr. SoamesI must absolutely refute the inferences cast by my hon. Friend as to the attitude adopted by the medical authorities. I should be glad to say something to try to set this in a slightly different perspective. There is a small proportion of men who are considered fit for service at the pre-call-up medical board but in the event are found to be unfit-1 per cent. of the total over the last nine or ten years. The fact that the proportion is so small reflects credit on the medical profession. Occasionally it happens that one of these men is in the public eye, and that fact attracts publicity. I appreciate that it makes feelings run high. Neither the Adjutant-General's Department nor I, if I intervene in a case, have any alternative but to discharge a man, whatever his name may be, if the medical advice is as definite and unequivocal as it was in the case that the hon. Member has in mind.