§ Mr. F. ROBERTSasked the Minister of Pensions on what basis a final award is given to a man suffering from a disease due to war service and is he aware that medical opinion agrees that it is not possible at any time to say that a man's condition, as the result of disease, has reached a final and stationary condition?
§ Major TRYONThe principles on which final awards are made are laid down in the War Pensions (Final Awards) Regulations, 1922, and the War Pensions (Final Awards) Amendment Regulations, 1923, but I would refer the hon. Member more particularly to Regulation 8. As regards the second part of the question, the hon. 289W Member will see from these Regulations that a final award is made in a disease case when, taking a reasonably near view, it has reached a condition in which further material fluctuation is unlikely.
§ Mr. ROBERTSasked the Minister of Pensions whether, in the event of a man receiving a final award, and the medical board who examined the man were of opinion that his degree of disablement was 24 per cent., would a pension at the rate of 30 per cent. be awarded?
§ Major TRYONUnder the Schedule to the Royal Warrant, pension assessments may be expressed only in multiples of 10, but in certain classes of case specified in Regulation 7 of the War Pensions (Final Awards) Regulations, 1922, as amended by the War Pensions (Final Awards) Regulations, 1923, they may be expressed in multiples of five. In making their assessments, medical boards adhere to these principles, and the question asked by the hon. Member does not therefore arise.
§ Mr. GRUNDYasked the Minister of Pensions whether he is aware that many men who are successful in their appeal to the pensions appeals tribunal do not receive a further award of pension, and that this is due to the man being reexamined by a board on which a deputy commissioner of medical services sits who was a member of the board that previously examined the man and rejected his claim to be suffering from a disability due to war service; and whether, in view of the grave dissatisfaction that exists among ex-service men that, although successful in appeals against the Ministry decisions, they do not receive a pension, he will make arrangements for a travelling medical board to work in conjunction with the pensions appeals tribunal so that they may assess the claimant's degree of disability independent of any local feeling or prejudice that may exist?
Captain CRAIGI assume that the hon. Member's question relates to decisions of the pensions appeal tribunals "setting aside" final awards. As I have before explained in this House, such a decision merely implies that, in the opinion of the tribunal, the disablement of the man has not arrived at a point at which it is unlikely within a reasonable time to get either worse or better, and that therefore the time has not arrived290W to make' the award final. It does not mean that the tribunal consider the assessment to be wrong at the time. It means that the tribunal think it may become wrong later in case of a change in the man's condition, and that they therefore wish to defer a final decision. With regard to the alleged dissatisfaction amongst ex-service men that, although successful in appeals they do not receive compensation from the Ministry, I would point out that it Must frequently happen that a board examining a man shortly after the tribunal have set aside his final award find that the man's degree of disablement is precisely the same as when the final award was made, and that consequently there is at the time no ground for any further award.