§ 1. Mr. Doddsasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what consideration is being given to improve the position of divorced women who did not pay contributions whilst married and therefore do not qualify under the present regulations for full-scale retirement pension.
§ The Minister of Pensions and National Insurance (Mr. John Boyd-Carpenter)A recommendation dealing with this matter is contained in the Report of the National Insurance Advisory Committee on the question of contribution conditions and credits provisions which I recently presented to Parliament (Cmd. 9854). I am at present considering this together with the other recommendations of the Committee.
§ Mr. DoddsIs the Minister aware that there are some very sad cases in this 2 category, and will he, under all the circumstances, be as sympathetic as possible?
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterI must not prejudge any statement which I make on the recommendations as a whole, but I am bound to say that I have a good deal of sympathy with this recommendation.