§ Captain Kerbyasked the Minister of Defence what decisions have now been reached by Her Majesty's Government, following their review of the plight in the United Kingdom of Britain's wartime Polish allies, with regard to arranging British pensions for the aged and needy amongst them.
§ Mr. ThorneycroftI have considered whether it would be right to make a special award of Service pensions to Polish ex-regulars who were under our command during the Second World War.
184WI am afraid that I could not justify this course. I am satisfied, however, that notwithstanding all that successive Governments have done to help Polish ex-Service men to make their homes in this country it would be right to offer some further measure of assistance to those of them, whether ex-Regulars or not, who may be in distressed circumstances. A grant of £50,000, which would be reviewed annually, is being made available for this purpose. It is proposed that this sum should be distributed at the discretion of the voluntary bodies who are concerned with this problem and the details are being worked out.