§ Mr. GROVESasked the Minister of Pensions whether he has under consideration the closing of the North-Western region and the transfer of all the case papers to the Ministry of Pensions office at Acton, Middlesex; and, if so, whether, seeing that this centralisation of case papers must involve delay and inconvenience to the pensioners, he will consider as an alternative the desirability of transferring the case papers to the area offices?
§ Major TRYONThe closing of the North-Western region is not under consideration, as the hon. Member suggests. It was in fact completed in the middle of September last, and I am pleased to be able to inform the hon. Member that the new arrangement has achieved a considerable economy and is working quite satisfactorily, with no delay or inconvenience to pensioners. The process of extreme decentralisation of awards files suggested in the last part of the question would, in my opinion, cause additional expense of administration and danger of confusion and delay.