HC Deb 26 June 1924 vol 175 cc608-9W
Sir T. BRAMSDON

asked the Minister of Pensions if, in cases of officers in receipt of pensions for wounds which are certified as not equivalent to the loss of a limb, and which the disabled officer claims is so equivalent and produces the necessary medical evidence to that effect, he will consider whether it is possible to allow these questions affecting these officers to be dealt with by the House of Lords Tribunal, as at present they have no redress further than a pension appeal board?

Mr. ROBERTS

Wound pensions are outside the scheme of final awards and the statutory Final Awards Regulations. They are in the nature of exceptional provision for a particular type of disability not determined by the general scale of assessment for disablement. Wound pen- sions, like wound gratuities, are administered, not under Ministry Warrants, but under Regulations common to the Service Departments and the Ministry of Pensions, and appeals are most carefully considered by a Central Board, which includes eminent surgeons.

Sir T. BRAMSDON

asked the Secretary of State for War if, in view of the fact that a Regular Army captain placed on retired pay through wounds under the 1914 Warrant at not less than half-pay of his rank, viz., £128 per annum, plus a wound pension of £50 per annum, now only receives half-pay of his rank minus the wound pension, he can see his way clear to issue instructions that this class of officer shall receive at least 50 per cent. increase on the 1914 Warrant, or the present rate of half-pay plus wound pension, whichever is the most beneficial?

Mr. ROBERTS

The Regulation under which a regular officer, retired for wounds, may receive, if more beneficial to him, a rate of retired pay, inclusive of the wound pension, equal to the new and materially augmented half-pay rate of his rank is in accordance with the considered advice of the Select Committee on Pensions, who were impressed with the marked distinction as regards rates of compensation embodied in the warrants in favour of officers suffering from wounds, as compared with those for officers suffering from disease.