§ Mr. RAMSBOTHAMasked the Minister of Pensions (1) if he will state the frequency with which ex-service pensioners have to be re-examined before medical boards; and whether, to avoid the constant anxiety to the men and the cost of the inspection, he can accelerate the rate at which pensions are being stabilised;
(2) if he will state what classes of Great War Pensioners have the pensions stabilised and which have not; and to which class the men suffering with eye trouble belong?
Mr. ROBERTSPensioners are medically examined at such intervals only as is essential to determine the rate of compensation due to them. I have full sympathy with the hon. Member's desire that final awards should be made as soon as possible in all suitable cases. This is in fact the practice of the Department and already more than four-fifths of the men on the pension list, suffering from disabilities of all kinds, are in receipt of final awards. This proportion applies also to case of affections of the eye.