§ 1. Mr. E. Johnsonasked the Secretary of State for War how much pension is received by a brigadier's widow with three children who lost her husband on 3rd November, 1958; and how much would she receive for herself and her three children if her husband had died the next day, assuming in each case that the husband retired on the 1956 Code after maximum service and that the widow is 50 years of age.
§ The Secretary of State for War (Mr. J. B. Godber)£448 and £893 a year.
§ Mr. JohnsonDoes my right hon. Friend recall that on 20th December his predecessor said that these pensions were intended to be rewards for service? Ought there not, therefore, to be similar rewards for similar service, and is it not quite wrong that a widow in similar circumstances whose husband retired at the same time, with the same service and in the same rank, should receive about half the pension of a widow whose husband died one day later? Will not my right hon. Friend consult the other Service Ministers and the Minister of Defence to see whether something can be done to remedy this unjust state of affairs?
§ Mr. GodberThis matter has been referred to on a number of occasions recently in the House. My right hon. Friend the Minister of Defence said, in answer to a Question from my hon. Friend the Member for Tynemouth (Dame Irene Ward) the other day, that he was looking into the whole question. I cannot go beyond that.