§ 6. Captain BOWYERasked the Minister of Pensions how many weekly allowances under the Warrants are being paid at the present time to children of disabled men, to children of widows, and motherless 596 children, respectively; what is the total annual cost; and will he specify any other way in which children of ex-service men are being helped by the Ministry?
Lieut.-Colonel STANLEYWeekly allowances under the Royal Pension Warrants are being paid at the present time to 697,000 children of men of noncommissioned ranks. Of these 380,000 are children of disabled men, 290,000 are children of widows and 18,000 are motherless children. The total annual cost of the allowances paid under the Warrants in these cases is estimated to amount to £9,700,000. In addition, grants in special circumstances are made at the expense of the Ministry to certain of these children by the Special Grants Committee, for example, grants in respect of education at a cost of £67,000 a year and in respect of the care and maintenance of neglected children at a cost of £130,000 a year, and further grants in special cases are also made out of certain voluntary funds at the disposal of the Minister.