18. Miss Wardasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether, in view of the fact that, in assessing dependants' allowances, pensions awarded in respect of sons killed in this war are taken into account and may in fact result in substantial allowances being withdrawn, his Department will adopt the same principle as applied by the Assistance Board and ignore pensions for assessment purposes?
§ Mr. George HallThe arrangement suggested by the hon. Member raises issues which affect the regulations for dependants' allowances common to all three Services, and possibly also the Regulations governing the award of war pensions. It would not, therefore, be possible for the Admiralty alone to make a decision on this matter. In the particular case which I assume the hon. Member has in mind, the total of the war pension plus the dependants' allowance was in fact more than the amount of the dependants' allowance issued before the pension was awarded.
Miss WardIs the Minister aware that the information sent to the Admiralty 1613 shows that a woman is 6d. worse off in these circumstances than she was before, in relation to the allowance? Will the right hon. Gentleman make the appropriate representations, in order that the Services may be brought into line with the concession which the House of Commons has wrung from the Front Bench in relation to pensions awarded for sons killed in the war?
§ Mr. HallConcerning the case in which the hon. Lady is particularly interested, there are certain complications, and I should be quite prepared to meet her on the matter.