asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the level of individual war pensions, on an annual basis, paid out by member States of the EEC, broken down into relevant service categories.
The structure of war pension schemes differs so markedly among the member States of the EEC that it is not possible to provide comparative information on any meaningful basis. The concept of loss of faculty applies in Belgium, France, Italy and the Irish Republic as it does in the United Kingdom but the criteria used in the French, Italian and Belgian schemes are not based on 100 per cent. disablement as is the case in the British war pensions scheme. Of the remaining four countries, the West German scheme is based on loss of earning capacity of at least 25 per cent. and Luxembourg, the Nether- lands and Denmark in broad terms pay a proportion of the person's earnings at the time of disablement adjusted in line with subsequent changes in the level of earnings.