§ Mr. Fosterasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the current delay in paying 1939 to 1945 war awards; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HayhoeAt present there is, unfortunately, about a two-year delay in processing applications for Second World War medals, due to a backlog in the Army Medal Office of some 17,000 requests. Recent publicity in the media on the subject of medals has caused an enormous surge in the volume of requests which has now risen to some 1,500 a week. Every request is dealt with in396W strict order of receipt and certain steps have already been taken to improve the resources available for dealing with these applications. However, priority is given to the issue of contemporary medals, rather than to applications relating to the Second World War made some 35 years after the event.