34. Allowances and grants.-Allowances, as follows, were awarded by the Committee during the year: Allowances to supplement pension:-- Officers, officers' widows and dependants Men, men's widows and dependants 852 2 865 33 nil 98 The value of the allowances in payment at 31st March, 1923, was £125,763 a year, in respect of 3,568 cases of officers and their dependants, £418 a year in respect of 13 nurses and their dependants, and £949 a week in respect of 1,985 men and their dependants.* The Committee made 1,972 grauts towards the cost of education of the children of deceased and disabled officers and men, and at the end of the year 7.330 such grants were in issue. Similar grants under the Royal Warrant in respect of children of deceased and disabled officers are, as a matter of convenience, administered with those under the Regulations of the Committee, and at the end of the year about 2,660 such grants were in issue. These grants represent a total annual expenditure in fees and expenses of approximately £200,000. 35. Questions of fact, forfeiture, etc.-During the year 433 decisions were given by the Special Grants Committee on questions of fact. As regards questions of forfeiture, in 1,403 cases (including 39 in which there had been administration in trust), it was decided that pension had become forfeited; and in 837 instances, 142 being cases in which pension had previously been suspended, administration in trust was recommended. In 376 cases it was found possible to re-issue pension direct, 15 after suspension and 361 after a period of administration. The number of fresh cases of forfeiture referred to the Committee during the year was 2,158. In 477 of these it was held either that the allegation had not been substantiated or that the facts of the case did not necessitate forfeiture or administration in trust. 36. Care of children.-The number of children under the care of the Minister under section 9 of the War Pensions (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1918, was 2,840 at the end of the year, of whom 578 were committed to care by orders of courts of summary jurisdiction under the Children Act, 1908, 478 having been committed under section 21 of that Act as a result of the convictions of the parent or guardian, and the remainder under section 58 of the Act. The general policy of the Committee is to The apparent disproportion between the value of the allowances granted by the Committee respectively to officers and men is explained by the fact that allowances for the wives and children of disabled officers are granted on a discretionary basis by the Committee, while in the case of men allowances are paid under the Royal Warrant. place children in private families under supervision wherever that course is practicable and desirable in the interests of the children; and according to returns received at the end of the year, 2,171 children had been so placed. Of the remainder, 89 were in special institutions because of mental and physical disabilities, 471 (some temporarily) in general institutions, and 109, for special reasons, under the poor law. 37. Motherless children.-Returns received at the end of the year showed that out of a total of 17,539 motherless children under supervision, 14,543 were in the care of relatives and 1,657 in the care of guardians who were not relatives; the remainder were in institutions. EXPENDITURE. 38. General expenditure.-The expenditure of the Ministry for the year amounted approximately to £81,500,000, compared with £95,559,616 during the preceding year and £106,645,516*+ in the year 1920-1921. The details for the year under review are as follow: 39. As regards headings (i) and (ii), the transfer of executiveduties from local war pensions committees to the direct control of the Minister, provided for in the War Pensions Act, 1921, § involved a transfer of charges as between these two headings, but there was the substantial saving of £1,274,100 as between * Details appear in the Fifth Report, para. 59. See also para. 2. The final figures are published in the appropriation account for the year. the combined totals. This lower expenditure arose from several causes. There were reductions in staff due to a natural diminution in the work, and in salaries, wages and medical fees on account of the fall in the cost of living. Because of the smaller number of medical examinations* there was also a reduction in the amount expended as fees to members of medical boards; and a reduction in the costs of medical certification following the establishment of the Ministry's general clinics and the corresponding transfer of the work of certification from medical referees. + The decreases under headings (iii) to (vii) were due principally to the reduced number of beneficiaries.‡ As regards the miscellaneous expenditure referred to under (viii), the expenditure for the preceding year included a sum of £441,136 resulting from the transfer to the Ministry's Vote of accumulated outstanding balances of recoverable advances made by local war pensions committees. In the absence of any similar large item of non-recurring expenditure the figure for the year under review has fallen correspondingly. 40. Apart from the considerable economy in administration referred to, the transfer of executive responsibility from local committees to the direct control of the Minister has been beneficial, affording better facilities for the close supervision of expenditure, and making possible a more expeditious rendering of accounts and a more satisfactory system of accounting generally. 41. Expenditure on hospitals and clinics.--Expenditure on the Ministry's hospital establishments and clinics has been on a considerably smaller scale : - Saving has resulted from a reduction in the accommodation which it has been necessary to provide, § and through considerable economies in running expenses. The average cost of maintenance in Ministry hospitals, which in January, 1921, was 9s. 7d. per occupied bed per day, fell a year later to 9s. 06d., * See para. 30. † See paras. 20 and 31. See para. 1. and in January, 1923, was only 8s. 57d., details for the year last mentioned being : Payment in respect of pensioners treated in civil hospitals is ordinarily made to the institutions on a daily capitation basis which covers the whole cost to the Ministry. The rates vary according to the class of institution and the actual cost of maintenance and treatment, but the maximum rates per occupied bed per day were reduced by 1s. per day as from the 1st January, 1923, the maximum rates then being :— The total payments in respect of the treatment of pensioners in civil hospitals amounted during the year to approximately £739,000, as compared with £1,289,000 in 1921-1922 and £2,040,000 in 1920-1921. 42. Contract supplies.-The value of hospital supplies purchased by contract during the year amounted to £417,227, as against £472,000 in the preceding year; of the former amount £367,457 was in respect of food and £49,770 in respect of medical stores and equipment. STAFF. 43. The staff of the Ministry at 31st March, 1923, numbered 23,552,† an increase of 633 on the total at the end of the preceding year. This apparent increase arose from the fact that, by the re-organisation of areas, 3,900 of the officers of the former local committees were transferred to the direct employment of the Ministry. The total staff included 14,197 men and 9,355 women (of whom 911 men and 715 women were permanent civil servants), 1,456 more men and 823 fewer women being employed than in the preceding year. Of the men employed, 13,884, (979 per cent.) had served with the forces, An amount in respect of uniform, food, and laundry allowances to staff (5.26d.), included in this figure, was shown in the similar table in the Fifth Report (para. 61) under " Miscellaneous." f For details see Appendix I. and of these 6,017 (43.3 per cent.) were in some degree disabled through war service. Decrease of work led to considerable redundancy, which was met by discharges of non-service men and women, by resignations, and by discharges on account of unsuitability. Arrangements were made to secure that every efficient ex-service clerk, on becoming redundant, was given the opportunity of offering himself for transfer to another part of the Ministry, and during the year 150 locally redundant men were so transferred. At the end of the year under review the ex-service and nonservice staff in substitutable posts, as defined by the Lytton Committee on the appointment of ex-service men to posts in the Civil Service, numbered 9,585 and 3,111 respectively, the latter figure representing 24'5 per cent. of the total, and showing a reduction of 941 on the number employed in April, 1922, when the proportion of non-service staff to the total had already been reduced to 32.9 per cent., as recommended by the Lytton Committee. The staff continued to work loyally and well, and the standard and output of work was fully maintained. LOCAL ADMINISTRATION. 44. War Pensions Committees and area offices.-The establishment of war pensions committees and of areas under the War Pensions Act, 1921, which, as stated in the Fifth Report,* was in progress in the preceding year, was completed during the year under review, the numbers of committees and offices in existence. at the 31st March, 1923, being as follow: † A Committee was established for Dublin, Cork, Kildare, Louth, Meath, and Wicklow; in the other counties in the Region the former committees remained. In the Isle of Man there is one, and in the Channel Islands there are two, committees established by former Acts. |