§ Mr. CLIMIEasked the Secretary for Scotland if he is aware that Thomas Russell, of East Netherton Street, Kilmarnock, had an action raised against him by the Kilmarnock Parish Council for his son's (an ex-soldier) board in Ayr district asylum; that decree was granted against him for the sum of £40, with £9 2s. 6d. expenses; that the son's disability is now recognised as due to war service; and will he consider what steps can be taken to relieve the parent of this debt?
Mr. ADAMSONThe answer to the first two parts of the question is in the affirmative. I am not aware that any new decision has been taken on the question of the cause of disability. My hon. Friend presumably has in mind the concession recently made that cases of this nature, where liability does not rest on the Ministry of Pensions, should be removed from, the ambit of the Poor Law, and that the cost of maintenance should be met from a special Exchequer grant. This concession does not affect the position prior to 1st April, 1924, and I am not in a position to take any action on the lines suggested in the last part of the question.