§ 46. Mr. Waddingtonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will seek to amend the regulations governing the grant of war disability pensions so as to remove from a claimant any onus of proving the claim which at present rests upon him in a case where relevant documents which could throw light on the claim are lost by a Government Department.
§ Mr. EnnalsNo, Sir. There is no onus on the claimant unless his claim is made more than seven years after his service ended. Even then, he is given the benefit of any reasonable doubt, and there is provision for accepting reliable corroborative evidence where documents have been lost.
§ Mr. WaddingtonIn the case that I have brought to the attention of the Ministry one cannot exclude the possibility that the service records—had they not been lost—would have established Mr. Cain's right to a pension? That being so, will my hon. Friend look into the matter again and reconsider the possibility of seeing that justice is done to this man and that the regulations are amended?
§ Mr. EnnalsAs my hon. Friend knows, the question to which he now refers was not only carefully considered within my Department but was referred to the Parliamentary Commissioner, who investigated the case with the care that he always shows and found no evidence on which to criticise the way in which my Department does its work.