Mr. T. THOMSONasked the Minister of Pensions whether he is aware that serious hardship and expense are in many cases caused to pensioners who go to convalescent homes situated in remote country districts owing to the impossibility of getting their sick certificates, authorising their dependants to draw their pensions, signed by a medical man each week in their presence whilst they are away: and will he authorise the medical officer sending them away to sign these sick certificates whilst they are away from home or make other arrangements whereby their dependants can draw their pensions?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONMy hon. Friend is, I think, under a misapprehension. Disabled men who are sent to a hospital or convalescent home by my Department receive allowances in lieu of their pensions, and no weekly certificates are necessary to enable the allowances to be drawn. If, however, my hon. Friend has in mind the local difficulty, about which he wrote to me recently, affecting the payment of a disabled man's pension to a second person, in a case where the pensioner himself had gone into hospital of his own accord for a complaint unconnected with his War service, I am looking into the point and will write my hon. Friend as soon as possible.