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Ministry of Defence

Answer

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence in relation to the compensation scheme for civilian prisoners of the Japanese, how many claims (a) have been received, (b) have been paid, (c) have been refused and (d) are outstanding; in relation to (b), how many were (i) not resident in the UK and (ii) not UK citizens but citizens of other Commonwealth countries at the time (A) of payment and (B) of retention; and in relation to (c), how many claimed before 25 June 2001; how many were resident in the UK; and how many of each category were rejected on the grounds they could not show a parent or grandparent born in the UK. [149575] Mr. Caplin: As of 16 January 2004, 2,922 claims for ex gratia payments have been received from former civilian internees, of which 1,882 have been successful; 1,032 have been unsuccessful, of which 851 were received before 25 June 2001; and eight remain to be dealt with. These figures do not include claims from the surviving spouses of former civilian internees, as these figures are not kept separately from the total of claims from the surviving spouses of all the groups covered by the scheme. As my hon. Friend the Member for Kircaldy (Dr. Moonie) advised in his answer of 28 April 2003, Official Report, column 52W, at that time approximately 800 claims from former civilian internees, including surviving spouses with addresses abroad, were rejected on the blood link criterion, while approximately 300 claims from civilians, including spouses, with United Kingdom addresses were rejected on the blood link criterion. We do not have the other figures sought because the details necessary to produce them were either not required or sought from claimants, or not collated as part of the process of verification of claims.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

417 c68W;417 c67-8W; 149575

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Compensation Applications British nationality Commonwealth Civilians Japan Payments Overseas residence World War II Prisoners of war Ex gratia payments Internment

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk