HC Deb 02 April 1962 vol 657 cc26-7
39. Mr. Goodhew

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what changes in the administration of the earnings rule for widowed mothers were made at the time of the 1961 increases in National Insurance benefits.

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

None, Sir.

Mr. Goodhew

Is my right hon. Friend aware that a very misleading and damaging article was published last month in the Daily Sketch, stating that the benefit increase of last April was being snatched away from many widows by the reduction in the amount that they were allowed to earn without deduction? Will he ask the Daily Sketch to correct the wrong impression that it has created, and, furthermore, suggest that it should consult his Department in future to make sure that it has its facts right?

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

My hon. Friend is quite right. A statement to that effect appeared in the leading article of the Daily Sketch on 5th March. On 6th March my Department drew that newspaper's attention to the inaccuracy and suggested that it would be proper, seeing that it was wrong in fact, to publish a contradiction. So far, no such contradiction has appeared.