HC Deb 28 September 1939 vol 351 cc1489-90
76. Captain Ramsay

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what provision is being made granting pensions on a scale commensurate with their pay to the widows and children of married officials who, having been ordered abroad in the public service, may lose their lives on the high seas as a result of submarine or other enemy action?

Captain Crookshank

The Personal Injuries (Civilians) Scheme, 1939, applies not only to war injuries within the United Kingdom but also to those sustained on the high seas by gainfully occupied persons who are travelling in the course of their business, and Government officials, in common with other gainfully occupied persons, are covered by the scheme. Pre-war civil servants who, as part of their conditions of service, were entitled in the case of injuries on duty to compensation under the Injury Warrant, retain their existing eligibility in that respect.

Captain Ramsay

Can my right hon. and gallant Friend say whether those grants are in ratio to their salaries?

Captain Crookshank

The grants under the Personal Injuries (Civilians) Scheme, 1939, are at a flat rate. The compensation payable under the Injury Warrant, to which I referred in the latter part of my reply, is another matter.