§ Mr. Kirbyasked the Minister of Pensions whether he proposes to provide means whereby ex-Servicemen of the last war whose claim to pensions because of alleged disability due to service in the last war have been rejected, shall have the right to appear on appeal before the new appeal tribunals recently set up and now functioning.
§ Sir W. WomersleyI would refer my hon. Friend to my reply on 20th instant to the hon. Member for Leigh (Mr. Tinker) on this Question.
§ Sir G. Jeffreysasked the Minister of Pensions whether, in view of the decrease in the course of years in the earning capacity of disabled naval pensioners, he will consider introducing a system of periodic increments, commencing at 60 years of age.
§ Sir W. WomersleyIt has long been an accepted principle, which is on balance much to the advantage of pensioners, that 555W disablement pensions should be assessed with reference only to the degree of physical disablement and should take no account of earning capacity. My hon. and gallant Friend's proposal, which could not, of course, be limited to naval pensioners, would be inconsistent with this basic principle, but I may point out that pension may be increased if the degree of pensionable disablement rises, and that a special allowance may be paid to the pensioner who is so seriously disabled from his pensionable disability as to be unemployable.