HL Deb 13 August 1919 vol 36 cc865-8

House in Committee (according to Order).

[THE EARL OF KINTORE in the Chair.]

Clauses 1 to 7 agreed to.

Clause 8:

Appeals to Pensions Appeal Tribunals.

8.—(1) Where the claim of an officer or man under any Royal Warrant or Order in Council administered by the Minister of Pensions is rejected on the ground that the disability on which the claim is based,

  1. (a)is not attributable to or aggravated by service during the present war, or
  2. (b) is due to the serious negligence or misconduct of the claimant;
or where such disability, although admitted to be aggravated by, is certified not to be attributable to such service; or where the claim of the widow or the motherless child of an officer or man under any such Royal Warrant or Order in Council is rejected on the ground
  1. (i)that the death of the officer or man was not due to, or that the disease from which he died was nut attributable to or aggravated by, stall service, nor, in the case of a man, contracted or commenced while he was on active service, or
  2. (ii) that the death of the officer or man was due to his serious negligence or misconduct,
an appeal shall lie to a Pensions Appeal Tribunal established under this section, whose decision shall be final.

(2) Pensions Appeal Tribunals shall be established for such parts of the United Kingdom as may be determined, in accordance with the provisions of the Schedule to this Act. The provisions of that Schedule shall have effect in relation to the constitution, jurisdiction and procedure of Pensions Appeal Tribunals.

THE EARL OF CRAWFORD moved, at the end of subsection (1), to insert "provided that no appeal shall lie in the case of any claim already heard and rejected by a Ministry Appeal Tribunal." The noble Earl said: Your Lordships will remember that new Pensions Tribunals are going to be established. There are existing Tribunals, and it is clearly desirable that claim already heard and rejected by the existing Tribunal should not be referred to a fresh one. They are not intended to be Appeal Tribunals front those already existing, and this Amendment prevents a man from having his case dealt with by the new Tribunal after it has already been settled by a competent Tribunal in existence.

Amendment moved— Clause 8, page 3, line 39, at end insert the said proviso.—(The Earl of Crawford.)

On Question, Amendment agreed to.

THE EARL OF CRAWFORD moved, after subsection (2), to insert the following new subsection— () Ministry Appeal Tribunal shall mean, as the case may be, an Officers Appeal Board Or a Pensions Appeal Tribunal set up by the Minister of Pensions before the first day of November nineteen hundred and nineteen.

The noble Earl said: These words are consequential on the Amendment just made.

Amendment proved— Clause 8, page 4, line 2, after subsection (2), insert the said new subsection.—(The Earl of Crawford.)

On Question, Amendment agreed to.

THE EARL OF CRAWFORD moved after the last Amendment, to insert the following new subsection— () This section shall come into operation on the first day of November nineteen hundred and nineteen.

The noble Earl said: I am informed that this is the earliest date at which the organisation and the necessary appointments can be made.

Amendment moved— Clause 8 page 4, lines 2, after the last Amendment, insert the said new subsection.—(The Earl of Crawford.)

On Question, Amendment agreed to.

Clause 8, as amended, agreed to.

Remaining clauses agreed to.

Schedule: 8. Subject as aforesaid the Lord Chancellor may make regulations with respect to the procedure of pensions appeal tribunals, and may by such regulations provide for the transfer to such tribunals of claims pending before a Ministry appeal tribunal at the date of the commencement of this Act, the summoning of expert and other witnesses, the representation of the claimants and the Ministry at the hearing of any appeal, the arrangements for the sittings of the tribunals (including the sitting of more than one tribunal in the same area), the particular eases which any tribunal shall hear, and such other matters as may be required for the due and speedy determination of appeals. 9. "Lord Chancellor "shall mean, in the application of this schedule to Scotland, the Lord President of the Court of Session, and in its application to Ireland, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland. 10. "Ministry Appeal Tribunal "shall mean, as the case may be, an Officers' Appeal Board, or a Pensions Appeal Tribunal, set up by the Minister of Pensions before the commencement of this Act.

THE EARL OF CRAWFORD moved, in Clause 8 of the Schedule, to leave out "at the date of the commencement of this Act," and insert" at the first day of November nineteen hundred and nineteen." The noble Earl said: This Amendment and the next are consequential on the date Amendment just inserted.

Amendment moved— In the Schedule, page 5, leave out lines 34 to 35.—(The Earl of Crawford.)

On Question, Amendment agreed to.

THE EARL OF CRAWFORD moved to leave out clause 10 of the Schedule.

Amendment moved— In the Schedule, page 6, leave out lines 6 to 8.—(The Earl of Crawford.)

On Question, Amendment agreed to.

Schedule, as amended, agreed to.

Then (Standing Order No. XXXIX having been suspended) Amendments reported: Bill read 3a and passed and returned to the Commons.