Mr. A. T. DAVIESasked the Minister of Pensions (1) whether the assessment of pensions to ex-service men during the first six months of the year compared with the same assessments for the last six months of 1919 were tangibly reduced by the medical boards in the aggregate throughout 1970W England and Wales; whether he will publish a return of these assessments for the period named;
(2) whether any confidential circular or circulars have been addressed by the Ministry, either to medical boards or any other officials under the direction of the Ministry, urging the desirability or need for cutting down pensions to ex-service men; whether any circular, confidential or other, conveying that interpretation has been so issued during the past six months; and, if so, will the Ministry consent to the publication of the same?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONIt has not been possible in the time available to calculate the results of the re-assessments made in the several hundred thousand cases which have been dealt with in the course of the 12 months indicated in the question, but I may perhaps be allowed to give my hon. Friend the results of a somewhat similar investigation over a shorter period, which had already been undertaken by my instructions before he put down his question.
Comparison was instituted in regard to the results of re-assessments of pension over two periods of four months, namely, June, July, August, and September, in 1920, and the same four months in 1919. The figures show that in the four months of last year 138,000 men were re-examined by Medical Boards, with the result that in 43.4 per cent. of the cases the previous rate of pension was unchanged, in 13.1 per cent. of the cases the assessment was raised, and in 435 per cent. of the cases the assessment was reduced.
During the same four months in 1920, 210,000 men were re-examined, with the result that in 43.8 per cent. of the cases the previous assessment of pension remained unchanged, in 7.4 per cent. of the cases the rate of pension was increased, and in 48.8 of the cases the assessment was reduced.
The question raised by my hon. Friend as to whether any instruction has been issued from the Ministry urging the desirability and need for cutting down pensions is one to which I am glad to have the opportunity of replying. I wish it to be clearly understood that no such instruction—confidential or otherwise—has been issued by my Department, and none such will ever be issued with my knowledge or consent. Bearing in mind that the assessment for pension purposes depends 1971W on the estimate of the extent to which the man is disabled, as determined at intervals of six or even twelve months by a Medical Board; that, in the course of nature, it is only to be expected, especially in cases of disease which form 54 per cent. of the whole, that the men should to some extent recover their health; and that the Ministry are spending several million pounds a year in providing treatment for disabled men, to the number of 125,000 at any given time, I think the figures which I have quoted are sufficient in themselves to refute the unfortunate, if not mischievous, suggestion that there is any concerted attempt to reduce pensions arbitrarily.