PENSIONS AND GRANTS (Hansard, 4 May 1944)

§ 23. Sir Smedley Crooke
asked the Minister of Pensions whether the increased rates of pension announced in the recent White Paper on Service Pay will be applied to cases from the war 1914–18.

§ 28. Mr. Tinker
asked the Minister of Pensions if the statement contained in Command Paper 6521 of an increase of widows' pensions from 26s. 8d. a week to 32s. 6d. a week applies to widows who are getting a pension through losing their husbands during the 1914–18 war.

§ The Minister of Pensions (Sir Walter Womersley)
Increases to the new rates shown in the White Paper will be made in the pensions of widows of "other ranks" of the war 1914–18. Officers' widows' pensions of that war are on a different basis.

§ Mr. Thorne
Will this increase apply to Port of London Authority pensions?

§ Sir W. Womersley
It applies only to the pensions which I am responsible for administering.

24. Colonel Sir A. Lambert Ward asked the Minister of Pensions whether the increased rates of pension announced in the recent White Paper on Service Pay will be granted to Mercantile Marine, Civil Defence and civilian war pensioners.

§ Sir W. Womersley
I am pleased to inform my hon. and gallant Friend that increases corresponding to those announced in the White Paper will be granted in Mercantile Marine, Civil Defence and civilian cases.

§ Sir A. Lambert Ward
Is my right hon. Friend aware that his answer will give great satisfaction to the members of these Services, who have made great sacrifices in the Allied cause?

26 and 27. Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Ian Fraser
asked the Minister of Pensions (1) if he will raise the allowance paid for a deceased soldier's child, which is 11. a week, and that paid for a totally disabled soldier's child, which is 75. 6d. a week, to the same figure as that paid for a serving soldier's child, which is 12s. 6d. a week; (2) if he will raise the allowance paid to a widow, with children, which is 32s. 6d. a week, to the same figure as that paid to a serving soldier's wife, which is 35s. a week.

§ Sir W. Womersley
I would ask my hon. and gallant Friend to await the Prime Minister's reply to a similar question by the hon. and gallant Member for Epsom (Sir A. Southby) later to-day.