Mr DOYLEasked the Minister of Health how many demobilised and disabled soldiers are now inmates of workhouses of England and Wales: if their cost of maintenance is deducted from their pension and allowance; what considerate treatment is extended to them; whether it is intended to maintain them permanently in the workhouses, or if it is proposed, and when, to transfer them to institutions more befitting their services and sacrifices?
§ Sir J. CRAIGI have been asked to reply to this question. The number of 1829W disabled ex-service men in Poor Law Institutions cannot, I am informed, be stated. The cost of maintenance of a disabled man can be recovered by the Board of Guardians, to the extent of any pension payable to him, on application to Pension Issue Office. Arrangements are made by which the admission of a disabled man to a Poor Law Institution is notified to the Local War Pensions Committee in all cases in which they are able to assist, as for instance, where the man needs medical treatment for disabilities due to his War service or where his pension is found to be inadequate to the existing degree of his disablement. In such cases the local committee arrange for the man's removal and give him the medical treatment or other assistance which can be provided under the Regulations of the Ministry. Neither the Ministry of Pensions nor the Local War Pensions Committees can assist demobilised men who are not disabled