§ Mr. Dobbieasked the Minister of Pensions what progress has been made with the review of the War Service Grants under the revised conditions operating from 1st November; can he make a statement as to the possibility of the review being completed by the end of December; if the current applications are being dealt with at the same time, or is there a lag in the issuing of these grants owing to the attention given to review cases; and can he inform the House as to the number of cases reviewed, the number of increases granted and the average amount of the increase?
§ Mr. PalingThis review has proceeded so satisfactorily that at the close of yesterday's work only 40,000 existing grants remained to be dealt with; at the present rate of progress I have every reason to expect that the review will be completed by the end of this month, and not the end of December. Fresh applications are also being deal with so rapidly that in spite of some increase in their numbers the balance awaiting decision is proportionately less than it has been for several months. Of the 173,000 cases326W reviewed two-thirds have received an increase sufficient to raise the average grant in such cases from 10s. 6d. to 17s. 6d. a week.