§ Commander Purseyasked the Secretary of State for War if he will make a further statement on the Meritorious Service Medal.
§ Mr. RamsdenI regret that in answering the hon. and gallant Gentleman's supplementary question—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 13th February, 1963; Vol. 671, c. 1284–5]—I said that the amount of the Meritorious Service annuity had always been £10. The original Royal Warrant of 1845 provided for annuities "not exceeding £20". The annuities 209W were, however, limited to £10 by the Royal Warrant of 1920. This is the basic amount: the annuities attract pensions increase in the same way as do Service pensions.
§ Commander Purseyasked the Secretary of State for War if he will state the number of Meritorious Service Medal annuities of £10 which were awarded in the year 1962, the regiments and number of their awards and the age of each annuitant.
§ Mr. ProfumoNinety annuities of £10, with increases under the Pensions Increase Warrants, were awarded in 1962. At the date of award, the highest age among the annuitants was 78 years 1 month and the lowest was 77 years 6 months.
The annuitants were from the following corps and regiments:
210W
Staff of the Army 1 17th Hussars 1 Royal Artillery 20 Royal Garrison Artillery 1 Royal Field Artillery 1 Royal Engineers 14 Royal Signals 2 Welsh Guards 1 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment 1 Border Regiment 1 Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry 1 Duke of Wellington's Regiment 1 East Surrey Regiment 2 King's Own Scottish Borderers 1 King's Royal Irish Hussars 1 King's Royal Rifle Corps 1 Loyal Regiment 1 Middlesex Regiment 4 Royal Berkshire Regiment 2 Royal Lincolnshire Regiment 1 R.A.F. (formerly Lincolnshire Regiment) 1 Royal Norfolk Regiment 1 Royal Northumberland Fusiliers 3 Royal Ulster Rifles 1 Royal Welch Fusiliers 1 Seaforth Highlanders 1 Somerset Light Infantry 1 South Wales Borderers 1 Suffolk Regiment 1
Wiltshire Regiment … 1 Worcestershire Regiment … 1 York and Lancaster Regiment … 2 Royal Army Service Corps … 10 Royal Army Medical Corps … 4 Royal Army Ordnance Corp … 2 Army Educational Corps … 1
§ Commander Purseyasked the Secretary of State for War why certain holders of the Meritorious Service Medal are not entitled to the £10 annuity; what is the number in each category; and what annual allocation of money would be required to pay each category.
§ Mr. ProfumoThe number of recipients of the annuity has always been limited by the sum provided under Royal Warrant. The latest Royal Warrant, that of 1920, made £7,500 available for annuities not exceeding £10 to soldiers of the rank of sergeant or above with prescribed Colour service. In 1950, the Government of the day decided to issue the medal to qualified candidates without the annuity, which continued to be paid only as vacancies occurred in the quota.
During the First World War and for some years afterwards, soldiers were awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for gallantry, saving or attempting to save life, or devotion to duty; but under the Royal Warrant of 1920 these soldiers could not receive, the annuity as well as the medal unless they qualified by rank and service.
There are at present 5,700 holders of the medal, of whom 750 receive the annuity. I regret that the records do not readily show how many holders of the medal are not qualified by rank and service for the annuity; and I cannot therefore say what the cost of paying the annuity to this category would be. The cost of paying it to all holders of the medal who do not at present receive the annuity would be £95,000 a year.