Former Prisoners of War

HC Deb 15 April 2003 vol 404 cc51-2W

Mr. Dismore

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many of the civilians with addresses abroad who have not qualified for the ex gratia scheme for former Far East civilian prisoners of war have proven internment but are rejected on the bloodlink criteria; and how many have spent their working lives in the United Kingdom and gone abroad on retirement; [109173]

(2) how many of the civilians with addresses abroad who have benefited from the ex gratia scheme for former Far East civilian prisoners of war were evacuated in 1942; how many of those paid prior to the end of May 2001 would not satisfy the new bloodlink criteria; how many do not hold United Kingdom passports now; and how many did not hold British passports at the time of internment; [109171]

(3) how many of the civilians with United Kingdom addresses who have benefited from the ex gratia scheme for former Far East civilian prisoners of war were evacuated in 1942; how many of those paid prior to the end of May 2001 would not satisfy the bloodlink criteria introduced on 25 June 2001; and how many did not hold British passports at the time of internment; [109170]

(4) how many of the civilians with United Kingdom addresses who have not qualified for the ex gratia scheme for former Far East civilian prisoners of war have proven internment but are rejected on the bloodlink criteria. [109172]

Dr. Moonie

Approximately 800 claims from civilians including surviving spouses with addresses abroad were rejected on the bloodlink criteria. It is not known how many have proven internment. Approximately 300 claims from civilians including surviving spouses with United Kingdom addresses were rejected on the bloodlink criteria; of these approximately 100 have been able to prove internment.

It is not known how many of the rejected claimants spent their working lives in the UK and went abroad on retirement. These and other statistics are not available, because the details necessary to produce them were not required or sought from claimants as part of the process of verification of claims.