§ Mr. Simmonsasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance the progress made with the issue of his special letter and leaflet explaining entitlements to all war pensioners, the numbers of inquiries received to date from war pensioners who are not sure that they are receiving all to which they are rightly entitled, the numbers of new awards of war pensions authorised in the last two years, and the number of cases in which pension assessments were increased because of previous errors or deterioration in war pensioners' disabilities.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterThe issue of the special letters and leaflets has now been completed and so far some 14,000 inquiries have been received. During the two years ended 31st March, 1957, nearly 22,000 new awards were made in respect of disablement or death and pension assessments were increased in nearly 11,000 instances.
§ Sir I. Fraserasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance in the light of the recently published Report of Sir Oliver Frank's Committee, what further consideration he has given to the representations from the British Legion and other ex-Service organisations regarding the right of appeal against decisions of his Department in connection with certain supplementary allowances.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterAs my hon. Friend knows, the Report does not deal with this matter. After further consideration I am still of the view, expressed in my letter to my hon. Friend on 5th June, 295W that a system of formal appeals would not be in the interests of war pensioners in that it would deny them the advantages of the present more flexible arrangements under which they can appeal to War Pensions Committees. This system seems to me appropriate in connection with the allowances to which my hon. Friend refers.