HC Deb 09 February 1897 vol 46 cc9-10
GENERAL LAURIE (Pembroke and Haverfordwest)

I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty how many naval pensioners are now receiving the Greenwich Age Pension; how many naval pensioners have been placed on the list as eligible or are otherwise entitled in accordance with the regulations but are not in receipt of this pension on account of insufficiency of funds; and whether it is the intention of the Government to ask for a grant sufficient to meet the claims of all who are by regulations entitled to this addition to their pension?

MR. KEARLEY

I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether, in view of the fact that a large number of seamen and marines are qualified to receive the Greenwich Age Pension, but nevertheless are not receiving it for want of funds assigned for that purpose, the Government will carry out the recommendation of the Report from the Select Committee on Greenwich Hospital Age Pensions, that an additional sum of £3,200 at present appropriated for pensions of officers and the education of their children, be transferred to the fund out of which the Greenwich Age Pensions are paid?

THE CIVIL LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY (Mr. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN,) Worcestershire, E.

The number of naval pensioners receiving Greenwich Age Pensions on January 1 last was 9,904. This number will be increased by the end of the financial year to the full number, 10,010, provided for in the Greenwich Hospital Estimates for the current year. There are 1,100 candidates on the list of applicants to whom it has not yet been possible to award a Greenwich Pension. The Admiralty have recently obtained the sanction of the Treasury to the payment of an increased rent for the use of part of Greenwich Hospital as a Naval College, which will enable more pensions to be granted. The Admiralty are not prepared to give effect to the suggestion that an additional sum of £3,200 a year at present appropriated for pensions of officers and educational grants to their children should be transferred to the fund out of which Greenwich Age Pensions are paid. I should add that the Select Committee made no recommendation on the subject.