§ 40. Lieut.-Colonel HOWARD-BURYasked the Minister of Health if he is aware that cases have arisen where ex-service men of 100 per cent. disability pension have subsequently died from a disease not attributable to service and, as they were unemployable and uninsurable, the widows and orphans are not eligible for benefit under the Widows', Orphans', and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act, 1925; and whether he will consider bringing such cases within the Act of 1925?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the MINISTRY of HEALTH (Sir Kingsley Wood)I would remind my hon. and gallant Friend of the special provisions which were inserted in the Contributory Pensions Act, 1925, to enable ex-service men to secure the benefits of the scheme. One of these provisions had the effect of giving to those who had served for not less than 104 weeks in the late War the necessary qualifications for becoming voluntary contributors under the Act, if they were not required to be insured thereunder, while another was designed to facilitate payment of the contributions of voluntary contributors who were in receipt of 26 war pensions. My right hon. Friend is afraid that no further concession is possible.