RNID'S VETERANS CAMPAIGN

EDM number 988 in 2004-05, proposed by David Heath on 22/03/2005.

That this House expresses concern that many ex-service men and women who have suffered substantial hearing loss as a result of their service in the Armed Forces are being denied sufficient compensation through the war pensions scheme; notes that a service person has to suffer a hearing loss of 50 decibels before being compensated, a level often only experienced naturally by elderly people; further notes that this is not the case across the European Union and the Commonwealth, where the qualifying level of hearing loss is much lower; further notes that criteria for compensation do not take into account the additive effects on hearing of age-related hearing loss and noise-induced hearing loss, ignoring the fact that noise-induced hearing loss associated with service may bring forward the age at which an individual will suffer age-related hearing loss; therefore believes that the Government's criteria for assessing compensation for deafened veterans is failing to deliver sufficient recognition for those who have made great sacrifices for their country; and therefore joins RNID and ex-service organisations in calling upon the Government to lower the qualifying level of hearing loss in order to ensure that all those who have served in the Armed Forces are compensated appropriately for any disability, and that those currently serving their country are not let down when their service ends.

This motion has been signed by a total of 64 MPs.