HC Deb 20 January 1953 vol 510 c12W
80. Mr. L. M. Lever

asked the Minister of Pensions the amount of the disability pension payable to an unmarried ex-private who has had a leg amputated through mid-calf as the result of wounds in the 1939–45 war or in Korea or Malaya; the amount payable under the 1919 Royal Warrant to men of the 1914–18 war; and the reasons for the difference.

Mr. Amory

The amounts are 22s. a week and 27s. 6d. a week, based on assessments of 40 per cent. and 50 per cent., respectively. The 40 per cent. assessment in respect of an amputation below the knee with a stump exceeding 5 inches accords with the recommendation of the Inter-Departmental Committee on the Assessment of Disablement due to Specified Injuries. The recommendations of this expert Committeee, which reported in 1947, were accepted by the Minister of National Insurance in respect of industrial injuries as well as by the Minister of Pensions. Many of the recommendations were for increased assessments and these were applied to men of the First World War as well as to those who were disabled after 2nd September, 1939.

As the hon. Member is aware, there have since 1919 been notable advances in surgery and in the design and fitting of artificial limbs.