§ Dame Joan Vickersasked the Minister of Social Security whether she will consider re-assessing the disability pensions 384W of the 10,000 limbless ex-Service men of the 1914–18 war, whose average age is now 74 years, from the present method, of the length of the amputation, to a pension commensurate with the strain on his other limbs having regard to the natural deterioration of his physical condition.
§ Mrs. HartNo. The Committee of the Assessment of Disablement, under the chairmanship of Lord McCorquodale, considered the methods of assessing disablement and in their report published in December, 1965 said
The principle of determining fixed minimum assessments for amputation by reference to the site of the amputation is fundamentally sound ", andThere are no grounds for special provision by way of supplementary compensation in respect of amputation as such, either generally or in relation to advancing age.(Report of the Committee on the Assessment of Disablement, December, 1965 (Cmnd. 2487). paragraph 64(3) and (12)).In view of these recent and authoritative conclusions a general reconsideration is inappropriate, but I am always ready to examine the circumstances of any individual case the hon. Lady may have in mind.