45. Lieut.-Commander Clark Hutchisonasked the Prime Minister whether, in view of the fact that the Service Departments are bound to have some record of the next-of-kin of members of the Forces who died as a result of service in the 1939–45 War, he will arrange for Memorial Scrolls to be issued to all next-of-kin without imposing upon them the necessity of making individual applications to the Ministry of Pensions.
§ The Minister of Defence (Mr. A. V. Alexander)I have been asked to reply. When the gallant men in whose memory these Scrolls are issued were in the Services, it fell to them to keep the authorities concerned informed of the whereabouts of their next-of-kin. There were great movements of the population during the war and there have been further changes since. At the present time, every year about five million persons in the United Kingdom change their addresses. For these reasons it is requested that those next-of-kin who do not happen to be in receipt of any regular payment from the Ministry of Pensions should furnish an accurate address.