War Pensioners (Hansard, 12 December 1996)

§ Ms Harman
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many war pensioners have been affected by the changes in war pension entitlement to pensioners with less than 20 per cent. hearing impairment since 1993. [8664]

§ Mr. Heald
From April 1993, the date from which figures are first available, to the end of September 1996, a total of 57,176 claims have been received in which the assessment of disablement due to noise induced sensorineural hearing loss was assessed at less than 20 per cent.

§ Mr. Alfred Morris
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of reports from the War Pensions Agency on the success rate of the Royal British Legion in its dealings with war pensioners; and what action he has taken on the basis of his assessment. [8731]

§ Mr Heald
The War Pensions Agency does not maintain records on the success rate of the Royal British Legion in its dealings with war pensioners.

§ Mr. Morris
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will now publish in full the revised medical opinion that determined the Government's proposals to alter in future the rules governing hearing loss deterioration in respect of war pension entitlement. [8732]

§ Mr. Heald
A copy of the texts of the medical advisor's address to the Central Advisory Committee on War Pensions and the medical references on which the change in medical opinion is based have been placed in the Library.

§ Mr. Churchill
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when the changes he announced on 5 December to war disability pensions will be implemented. [8848]
357W

§ Mr. Heald
There are two entirely separate and unconnected war pensions changes. The first is a package of measures to simplify the administration of war pensions which, subject to consultation with the Central Advisory Committee on War Pensions, will be introduced from 1 April 1997. The second is a change in medical opinion on the effect that noise induced sensorineural hearing loss has on a subsequent hearing loss due to other causes such as aging.
Assessments made from 16 December 1996 will be based on the new medical opinion. Awards made prior to that date on the basis of the old medical advice will continue. The Secretary of State and my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary have decided to use the powers in the dispensing instruments to make awards on the old basis, where claims had been made before 1 March 1996, the date by which the departmental medical adviser considers medical opinion had conclusively changed.

§ Mr. Morris
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what medical peer review procedures were applied to proposed changes to the rules for war disablement claims for deafness. [8729]

§ Mr. Heald
The previous war pensions approach to noise induced sensorineural hearing loss was exceptional in recognising the possibility of an increase in service-related hearing loss after removal from the service noise. To confirm or refute that approach, the scientific and medical basis of noise-induced sensorineural hearing loss was investigated first by studying the scientific literature and then by consultation and discussion with some of the UK's leading clinicians and audiological scientists.
Experts included departmental regional consultants appointed by the Department's chief medical adviser on the basis of their authority, and senior academics of the Medical Research Council Institutes of Hearing at Nottingham and Glasgow, and audiological scientists at the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, Southampton.

§ Mr. Morris
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make it his policy not to introduce the new rules for war disablement claims until the peer review of the new medical opinion for deafness has been published. [3730]

§ Mr. Heald
Where medical matters need to be determined on a claim for, or application for review of, an award of a war disablement pension, the law requires that part of the claim to be determined by a medical officer appointed by the Secretary of State. The medical officer certifies whether the disablement is due to or aggravated by service in the armed forces, and the degree of disablement due to service. The Secretary of State is required to make payments of war disablement pension in accordance with the certified level of disablement.
It was previously thought that a service-related noise-induced hearing loss could increase the effect of a subsequent hearing loss due to other causes such as aging. Authoritative medical opinion is now that such interaction does not occur and that the maximum effect of service-related hearing loss is at release from service. Medical officers must apply current medical opinion. For them to do otherwise would be unlawful.
358W

§ Mr. Churchill
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will place in the Library a copy of the medical evidence on which he has based his decision no longer to grant higher rates of the disability pension in respect of deafness to those already in receipt of war benefit. [8875]

§ Mr. Heald
A copy of the texts of the medical advisor's address to the Central Advisory Committee on War Pensions and the medical references on which the change in medical opinion is based have been placed in the Library.