89. Mrs. Whiteasked the Minister of Labour if he has further considered the case of a Flintshire student, details of which have been sent to him; and if he will now review the procedure whereby a man medically examined for National Service may have to wait several months for additional examination by a specialist, in view of the fact that he cannot, meanwhile, obtain employment and is put at economic disadvantage through no fault of his own.
§ Mr. WatkinsonAs the hon. Member has now been informed, this man has been placed in medical grade IV and will not be called up. I am sorry this conclusion could not be reached earlier. This was primarily because his medical condition made it necessary for the specialist to examine him three times at intervals. In such cases there is no alternative to keeping a man waiting for a decision, but we keep the time as short as possible and there is a long-standing rule that the delay must not exceed six months at the most.