HL Deb 02 August 1917 vol 26 cc155-8

THE EARL OF MAYO had the following Notice on the Paper—

To ask His Majesty's Government—

  1. 1. That, if possible, every disabled soldier and sailor be given the opportunity of going to a convalescent technical institution established on the lines of St. Dunstan's, where he could receive the necessary medical attention and technical training during his convalescence.
  2. 2. That an Imperial and Allied Committee be formed for the care of disabled soldiers and sailors.
  3. 3. What number of men have been trained under the new Government scheme who have not previously passed through Roehampton, St. Dunstan's, Orthopœdic Hospitals, and Lord Roberts's Workshops.
The noble Earl said: My Lords, the first of my Questions with regard to disabled soldiers and sailors is one which I have asked before, and the noble Earl, in replying to it, said— …and the noble Earl only asks for a very small modification when he suggests that if a man's health permits while he is still in a convalescent home, notably in an orthopædic hospital, he shall begin his training. I will put the case before my right hon. friend Mr. Barnes, and will represent it as being strongly pressed by the noble Earl and others who are interested in this subject. I should like to know whether Mr. Barnes has taken this matter into consideration, and what is going to be done with regard to beginning the technical training of a disabled soldier or sailor while he is convalescent and passing him into a convalescent technical institution established on the lines of St. Dunstan's.

With regard to my second Question, I dare say the noble Earl will remember that I mentioned that there was an Inter-Allied Conference for the study of this question. I believe that the Report of that Conference has been published, and that most of it has been translated. I suggest that it would be most useful if an Imperial and Allied Committee could be formed for the care of disabled soldiers and sailors, and to go into the question of what each country is doing for these men. The Governments of the different Oversea Dominions have taken the matter up very strongly, and I should say that a Committee of this sort would be most valuable in enabling an exchange of ideas to take place, and for the purpose of comparing what has been accomplished and also of finding out the faults and good things each has done. I have asked these Questions before, but since then it has come to my knowledge that about 370,000 disabled men have been discharged from our Army.

THE EARL OF CRAWFORD

Disabled?

THE EARL OF MAYO

Yes. I have been given that figure, although it may be wrong. If it is, I hope I shall be corrected. But the figure which the noble Earl gave me last time was such a small figure—I mean the figure of those who were being trained under the Government scheme—that as fresh matter has come before me I decided further to trouble the noble Earl on the subject.

THE EARL OF CRAWFORD

My Lords, with regard to the first Question, the training provided at St. Dunstan's Hostel is applicable to men disabled by total blindness, whose affliction necessarily renders them peculiarly helpless and materially narrows the field of employment to which they can, even by training, become adapted. These conditions, happily, do not obtain in the case of most other forms of disablement, and it is not considered that it would be desirable, even if it were practicable, to deal with all discharged disabled men in similar institutions. The noble Earl will appreciate that to establish for all disabled men institutions of the character of St. Dunstan's would mean setting up all over the country new educational polytechnics or institutions, whereas under present conditions men can go from their own homes, even when disabled, to the existing well-established and thoroughly-equipped secondary schools and workshops, which is infinitely better than that fresh machinery should be improvised in the way of institutions. But, none the less, a combination of training with treatment is arrived at in suitable cases, and several of the larger orthopædic hospitals are now being equipped with facilities for technical education and instruction in workshops.

THE EARL OF MAYO

Is that outside as well as in London?

THE EARL OF CRAWFORD

In some of the larger orthopædic hospitals in London and elsewhere.

THE EARL OF MAYO

Hear, hear.

THE EARL OF CRAWFORD

Similar training, as the noble Earl is no doubt aware, has for some time been provided at the Queen Mary's Auxiliary Hospital for Limbless Cases at Roehampton. The period of the man's stay in this institution is too short, as a rule, to allow of any but elementary training to be given; but in a large number of cases the training commenced in this hospital is continued in the London Technical Institutes. Technical workshop training of a similar kind has also now been provided at the Golder's Green Home of Recovery for neurasthenic patients. The noble Earl's second Question has, I am glad to say, been anticipated. As a result of the Inter-Allied Conference which was held in Paris in May last a standing Committee was formed which meets at regular intervals.

THE EARL OF MAYO

Does that include the Dominions?

THE EARL OF CRAWFORD

I think it does. My noble friend Lord Charnwood, who was a member of the Inter-Allied Conference, is not here now, or I would ask him. But there were Dominion representatives present. A bureau of information was instituted for the circulation of information as to the measures taken in the Allied countries for dealing with discharged disabled men.

I apologise to the noble Earl, but I cannot yet answer his last Question. It is still impossible to state the number of men who have been trained under the Regulations. The fact is that the returns are received in a most leisurely fashion, and no figure can therefore be stated. But from the information at the disposal of the Ministry the number who have received training without having previously passed through the institutions referred to is probably considerable. I may point out that Lord Roberts's Memorial Workshops are, it is understood, designed less to provide training for ordinary industrial employment than to provide direct employment for men who are considered unlikely to find such employment elsewhere. Similarly, the training given at St. Dunstan's is not preparatory to any further course of instruction. The training provided at Roehampton and the orthopædic hospitals is, as I have already said, mainly preparatory where it is not simply given as curative exercise, and a substantial number of the cases dealt with in these institutions pass on to a more complete course, of instruction elsewhere.

THE EARL OF MAYO

I thank the noble Earl. I consider that the answers he has just given are much more satisfactory than on the last occasion.