Orders of the Day — Medical Appeals, Wrexham

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 24 November 1960.

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Photo of Bernard Braine Bernard Braine , Essex South East 12:00, 24 November 1960

I think that the whole House will have been impressed by the sincerity with which the hon. Member for Wrexham (Mr. Idwal Jones) has spoken about two of his constituents who are suffering from grievous ill-health. Certainly, I personally am very grateful to him for raising this subject. We spend a great deal of time here discussing the abstract principles and structure of our social services, but it is very easy to forget the individual cases, every one of them different, which make up the whole.

Moreover, as my right hon. Friend the Minister said the other day when we were debating an earlier stage of the Bill to which the House has just given a Third Reading, individual cases can be very instructive upon general matters. I take it that that was part of the purpose which the hon. Member for Wrexham had in mind in raising these cases tonight.

The hon. Gentleman was good enough to give me some particulars of the cases that he proposed to mention, and that has enabled me to examine them personally. I appreciate his kindness. At this point I should say, however, that I am prepared to do the same with any cases which hon. Members may draw to my attention for any reason. If I can do nothing else, I can at least provide a clear and, I hope, informed explanation of the case and point out any rights of appeal and review for which the law makes provision. I hope to enlarge on that point later.

I should, however, be completely out of order if I sought to discuss particular cases tonight. I think that that is well understood in the House. We have in the Industrial Injuries Scheme an independent system of adjudication set up by the principal Act of 1946. Ministers have never been abl to interfere in the decisions on claims in respect of industrial injuries. The cases mentioned by the hon. Member for Wrexham are examples, and I shall treat them as such, though I will certainly do anything that I can do in respect of them on the lines that I have indicated.

These two cases have been before the medical appeal tribunals established under the Industrial Injuries Act. These tribunals are the highest adjudicating authorities on medical questions that we have under the Act. To get the matter into perspective, I should explain that the 13 tribunals which exist in Great Britain heard 20,490 cases during the twelve months up to 30th September last. This figure shows the magnitude of the work—