Lieut.-Colonel GUINNESSasked the Minister of Pensions whether there is any 1855W check in Ireland on the spending of allowances granted to discharged men for the purpose of treatment; whether it is the experience of the Minister of Pensions that such men sometimes retard their improvement by either prematurely leaving the institutions to which they have been sent or by being discharged for breach of discipline; whether he is of opinion that such cases are sufficiently covered by the regulations recently embodied in the handbook; whether greater discretion should be given to Committees in such cases; and whether, when a local committee makes a definite recommendation to him in respect of such cases, he will at once give effect to such recommendation?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONThe administration of Article 4 of the Royal Warrant, under which pension can be reduced for refusal to accept treatment or for such misconduct as is deemed to constitute refusal, is in the hands of the Regional Commissioners of Medical Services of the Ministry, to whom recommendations are made by the Local War Pensions Committees. The instructions given to the Committees in their handbook, and to the Commissioners of Medical Services are generally found to be satisfactory, and I do not consider that they need to be amended. I am aware that the local administration of pensions in Ireland is beset with difficulties which are not experienced in other parts of the United Kingdom, but I am not aware that those difficulties relate, in any disproportionate degree, to the matters to which my hon. and gallant Friend refers.