the particulars as to wages prior to enlistment furnished by the Government Actuary to the Select Committee in 1919* it can be calculated that the average wage did not exceed 32s. a week. We cannot accept as probable the conclusion that 30 per cent. of the men supported their parents before enlistment, and still less the conclusion that out of an average wage of 32s. a week the man contributed more than 9s. a week to the support of his parents in addition to repaying any expenditure incurred on his account. We therefore think that too many of these pensions have been issued and that the sums granted to individuals have been excessive. The Select Committee of 1919 recommended that all classes of parents' pensions should be assimilated on the basis of need and the reasonable expectation of what the son would have contributed had he lived. The Government did not accept this recommendation on the ground that it would have been a breach of faith with the pensioners. The question whether awards of pension based on pre-war dependence have been made on a correct estimate of the facts is another matter, and we suggest that a re-examination of these awards is called for, and a final date for application should be fixed. Other Pensions in this Group. The parents' flat-rate pension is 5s. a week, granted to any parent who lost a son under 26 years of age, irrespective of whether the parent is in need or whether the son ever contributed support. It is a question of policy whether such pensions should be limited to cases of need, but, apart from this, we think it desirable that a final date for application should be fixed. Administration, £5,722,000. The estimated cost of administration in 1922/23, excluding £1,400,000 for the staffs of hospitals and institutions which has been included above as part of the cost of "treatment," is made up as follows: Numbers of Staff. Evidence was produced to us that, apart from the staff in institutions, there has been a steady reduction in numbers since May, 1920, and that this reduction preceded the decline in the number of pensioners and has exceeded that decline in extent. Sweeping changes are being made in administration as a result of the War Pensions Act, 1921, which converted the Local Pensions Committees from administrative bodies to Advisory Committees, and also introduced the principle of fixing permanent pensions. Until these reforms, which should be pressed forward as rapidly as possible, are completed it will scarcely be possible to form a true judgment of the size of the staff required, but we think large reductions should eventually be possible, and we were satisfied that this possibility was very much in the minds of those responsible. We suggest that the pay of the temporary administrative medical staff of the Department, numbering 324, which averages £972 per annum, requires reconsideration in view of the fall of the cost of living and the reduction recently effected in the emoluments of panel doctors under the Health Insurance Scheme. SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS. There is nothing we can suggest to reduce the provision of £67,170,000 for ordinary pensions until the time fixed for review in April, 1923. We think that the cost of treatment, parents' pensions and administration can be reduced without inflicting any undue hardship, and we do not think it unreasonable in present financial conditions. We recommend in all the circumstances of the case that the Estimates for 1922/23 be reduced from £96,366,000+ to £93,000,000, a reduction of 3 millions. † In view of the fact that the estimate has been prepared at an unusually early date, and that it is obviously a difficult matter to fix the figures correctly, we further recommend that the basis on which the estimate is compiled should again be thoroughly reviewed so as to reduce the possibility of overestimate. In 1920-21 and 1921-22 there have been overestimates exceeding £10,000,000 in each year. APPENDIX (A). EXPENDITURE since the Armistice by Civil Departments, other than the Ministry of Pensions, on Schemes for the Benefit of ex-Officers and Men. This is mostly capital expenditure. There will be in addition for many years an annual loss, which is put, as a maximum, at £1,250,000 per annum in England and Wales and £260,000 in Scotland. If the number of men under treatment on the 30th June, 1921, continued constant for 12 months, approximately 500,000 spells of treatment would be given during that period. G 1. General Rule. APPENDIX (C). TREATMENT ALLOWANCES. The general rule as regards treatment allowances is that a man under treatment and unable in consequence to support himself and his family has his pension raised to that of a totally disabled man. This rule applies without qualification to men receiving outtreatment or treatment at home. In the case of treatment in an institution the men are being maintained free and the cash allowance paid to them is reduced by 198. a week as compared with that of a totally disabled man; if married, however, they receive 20s. a week in respect of their wife, whereas the allowance paid in respect of the wife of a totally disabled man is 10s. a week. 2. Amount of Allowances. (i.) The minimum cash allowances (applicable to ex-privates) paid are: (ii) Rank Allowances are drawn in addition. In the case of a man with a wife and three children the cash allowances would be increased as follows: (iii) Value of Free Maintenance in an Institution.-As the rate for a single man in an institution is 21s. a week as compared with 40s. for an out-patient, it appears that the value of maintenance has been put at 19s. a week. This is certainly a very low estimate; the cost to the Government is at least 63s. a week. (iv.) Other Sources of Income.-In fixing the allowance which is to maintain the man and his family during his treatment, no account is taken of private income or of any health insurance benefit. The amount of insurance benefit drawn by men under treatment is, however, about £1,000,000 a year, i.e., it represents an addition of about 15 per cent. to the training allowances, which total £6,500,000 a year. 3. Comparison of Family Income when Man is under Treatment with Family Income when he is in Work. From the preceding paragraph it appears that the minimum family income of a married man with three children in an institution is about £4 a week, viz., 60s. 6d. in cash, and free maintenance, valued at 19s. When his treatment is over he reverts to ordinary pension, and out of 30,671 classified cases it appears that 19 per cent. draw no pension after treatment. 36 per cent. draw less than 10s. a week. 83 per cent. draw less than 30s. a week. The average pension cannot well exceed 20s. To draw as much after treatment as during treatment it would be necessary for him to earn at least £3 a week, which is a high figure compared with present rates in unskilled trades, ignoring the possibility of unemployment. Taking into account rank allowance and health insurance benefit, and the fact that maintenance is much undervalued at 19s., it seems clear that in very many cases the extra income during treatment is such as could not be earned in full employment. The position as regards a man receiving home treatment or treatment as an out-patient at an institution is not very different. The minimum treatment allowance for a man with three children would be just under £3 10s. a week, so that in the average case the man, in order to draw as much after treatment as during treatment, would have to earn 50s. a week, plus anything he would have been drawing in health insurance benefit or rank allowance during treatment. CONCLUDING REMARKS. In bringing our Interim Report to a conclusion, we desire to emphasise once again the need for immediate action to which we have already referred in the case of the Fighting Services, and the essential importance of energetic Departmental action in the matters with which we have dealt and, which the Government may approve, if the savings are to be realised in the coming year. Over and above the £75,000,000 reductions which the Departments themselves have proposed for the year 1922/23, we have |