Mr. Scott William Donaldson (Hansard, 15 June 1984)

§ Mr. Willie W. Hamilton (Fife, Central)

I am glad that this debate has come on rather earlier than expected but my speech will be no longer for that.

On 1 February this year Mr. Scott William Donaldson, a young teenager from my constituency from the village of Methil in Fife, underwent a medical examination following his application to join the Army as a bandsman. His application was rejected because he had an ailment called psoriasis.

On 8 February, the boy's father wrote to me expressing his profound shock and disappointment at that outcome. He explained to me that his son, who is 16 next month, had recently been for his music audition with Captain Price at Edinburgh castle and had passed. He had also taken and passed his Army selection test. He was in February, and I believe still is, a lance corporal in the Army cadets and has been on many exercises with them. I believe that he is going on another next month.

Never at any time has his medical condition hindered him from doing whatever he set out to do. The boy's father came to see me at my surgery after writing to me and I made written representations to the Ministry of Defence on 13 February. I received a reply from the Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces, who is in the other place, dated 7 March. That reply said that the boy had signed a statement at his medical that he suffered from psoriasis and that it needed constant treatment. That was quoted against the boy in the rejection of his application to join the Army. The reply also said that Army medical experience was that the condition gets worse under the stress of military life and therefore the risk of giving the boy expensive military training was not warranted.

The Minister expressed the hope that he would find another job, which was very nice, but in the circumstances of the area, which has a male unemployment rate of 40 per cent., it was rather a sick joke. That is one reason why the boy and his parents are extremely anxious that he should have that chosen career.

When I sent that reply to the boy's parents the father wrote to me again, refuting certain statements made in it. He challenged the statement that the boy had made a written admission of, first, the ailment, and, secondly, that it was long-standing and that he was having to engage in constant treatment for it. The father denies that. He said that the boy had never needed such constant treatment. He also said that the Minister's letter was wrong in stating that the examining medical officer for the area had asserted that the ailment was of such a degree as to render him unfit for service in the Army. According to the father the medical officer had said that the boy's condition was reasonable but that he did not think that the boy would be accepted because of it, which is slightly different from what the Minister said in his original letter. The father also made the observation that others in the Army, known to them, I believe, have suffered from the same complaint and are nevertheless in the armed forces. Therefore, he alleged, perhaps with a little exaggeration, that his son has been discriminated against.

1201 That further letter has also been seen by the Ministry of Defence and I received a reply to it dated 21 May which reiterated that the young man had admitted a history of the ailment since an early age and that he had used, and uses, coal tar cream most nights to treat it. The letter alleged that the condition has not abated and still needs treatment. Therefore, the decision to reject the application must stand.

I also sent that letter to the parents, suggesting that I might seek an Adjournment debate on the matter and this is the consequence of that. The father flatly denies that his son has constant need of treatment and for his part the boy maintains that he does not need and is not engaged in constant treatment of the ailment.

I hope that the Minister will appreciate, as I am sure that he will, the deep anxiety and disappointment shown by Mr. and Mrs. Donaldson and by their son over the way that the story has unfolded. I fully understand and share that worry and disappointment. I hope that the Minister in his reply will not declare the matter closed at this juncture. I do not know what he can do. I hope that he might tell me, although this may be going too far, that the boy will be given his chance in the Army. If he cannot go that far, I hope that at least he will give us an assurance that he will have another medical examination by another independent medical officer. That might go some way to satisfying the parents and the boy.

The boy has a great record in the Army cadets locally. He has expressed an enormous enthusiasm for a career in the Army, not necessarily as a bandsman but as a soldier. I hope that the Minister will respect that, and will give a reply that will offer some hope to the parents that all is not yet finished and that there is some hope, even now, that this boy might get what he genuinely wants, a career in the Army.

§ The Minister of State for the Armed Forces (Mr. John Stanley)

I am sure that Mr. Donaldson and his parents will be grateful to the hon. Member for Fife Central (Mr. Hamilton) for raising in the House the circumstances in which Mr. Donaldson was, regretfully, found not to be up to the required medical standard to serve in the Army. I fully appreciate how very disappointing this decision must have been to Mr. Donaldson. He was, I know, a very keen applicant who had long wanted to make his career as a bandsman in the Army, who had served with a good record as a lance corporal in the Army cadets, and who had only recently passed a service musical audition. I am sure that the Army, for its part, will have been equally disappointed not to have been able to accept Mr. Donaldson. I would like now to explain the background to that decision.

As the hon. Member will appreciate, it would not, of course, be our normal practice to refer to an individual's medical condition in the House, but, as the hon. Member has done so, I am sure that he would expect me to do likewise.

As the hon. Member has said, Mr. Donaldson had long set his heart on being a bandsman in the Army, and had diligently prepared for an Army career. I understand that he started trumpet lessons at the age of nine. He served as a cadet and he then applied for, and passed, his service music audition test at Edinburgh castle. Unhappily, when he came to be medically examined on 1 February this year, he was declared medically unfit for enlistment. This was, 1202 of course, solely a medical judgment based on the medical standards laid down for entry into the Army and on the professional expertise and experience of the medical officer examining him.

The hon. Member will, I know, acknowledge the importance of setting high medical standards for those exposing themselves to the considerable demands of service life.

The Army must ensure that the young men and women whom it accepts will be able to perform reliably and consistently with advantage to the service and without hurl to themselves. It would surely be wrong, and certainly to no one's advantage, to expose young men and women to the physical strain involved in service life if, through no, fault of their own, they were not up to it physically, or caused themselves and their health damage in the process. They would then be faced with the possibility of discharge which would be upsetting for them and wasteful for the service, which would have devoted time and expense to their training.

The doctors carrying out the medical examination before enlistment therefore have a duty both to the individual and to the service to ensure, in as far as they can, that the applicant is up to the required physical standards. This is not always easy. There are some conditions which are difficult to diagnose, and some which vary in their intensity either in a random fashion or are sometimes triggered off by physical strains or anxieties.

It is quite clear that when Mr. Donaldson was medically examined on 1 February he was suffering from psoriasis. His medical record of the examination, which I have of course seen, states clearly that Mr. Donaldson himself declared that he had suffered from psoriasis since the age of six or seven. He also stated that his condition tended to improve in the summer, and that he used a cream preparation on his skin most nights to alleviate the condition. As is usual in these circumstances, Mr. Donaldson signed the record of the examination to verify the fact that he had given the information, and that it was to the best of his knowledge correct.

Perhaps I should explain what I am advised is the condition called psoriasis, and its implications for service life. It is a condition in which the skin, often on the scalp, arms or back, becomes blotched and irritated. It can be very uncomfortable and it can seriously diminish a person's ability to carry out physically demanding tasks, for instance, carrying packs or equipment. This is particularly so in extreme climatic conditions. Psoriasis, however, is one of those strange conditions which can come and go. It can be virtually undetected, quiescent for a period and then may flare up after or during a period of tension or physical stress.

Psoriasis therefore always presents a difficult problem for a medical officer in deciding whether an applicant is fit enough to join the Army or any of the services. In Mr. Donaldson's case, the doctor regretfully decided that, since the condition was of long standing, had not abated and still required constant treatment he could not, in Mr. Donaldson's own interests as well as those of the Army, allow him to go forward to enlist.

I should mention the matter of the medical standards that we apply to bandsmen, as I know that matter has also been raised by Mr. Donaldson's father. It is not the case that a bandsman in the Army has to have lesser physical qualifications for entry than other soldiers. This is because he must be a soldier first and a bandsman second. He will 1203 be required to undergo rigorous physical training and weapon training, and to keep himself constantly in a condition in which he is fit to fight. All bandsmen do, of course, have operational roles in wartime, and we cannot therefore responsibly accept lower medical entry standards for this group. A number of bandsmen, for instance, were in the fighting units in 3 Commando brigade during the Falklands conflict.

I have, of course, considered carefully the points that the hon. Member has raised. I am willing, recognising fully Mr. Donaldson's great eagerness to be considered for an Army career, to call for a second medical opinion in 1204 this case. If Mr. Donaldson is willing, I will be ready to arrange for him to see, and be examined by, the consultant adviser in dermatology to the Army for a final medical judgment on whether Mr. Donaldson is fit to enlist. I stress to the hon. Member that this will be the final medical judgment, but I hope that he will feel that I am being as fair to Mr. Donaldson as I possibly can be, and of course I wish Mr. Donaldson well.