1. Mr. Gilmourasked the Secretary of State for War if he will take steps to remove the condition barring from pension rights the widows of Regular officers who marry after they have become entitled to a pension.
§ The Secretary of State for War (Mr. James Ramsden)No, Sir. Government pensions, like other remuneration, are given as a reward for service to the Crown. No new entitlement can arise once an officer has ceased to be actively employed by the Crown.
Mr. GilmourIs my right hon. Friend aware that widows similarly placed in Holland, Belgium, Sweden, France and the United States all get pensions? Since these pensions are a reward for services rendered, as my right hon. Friend's predecessor said, surely the date of marriage is immaterial.
§ Mr. RamsdenOn the Continent the whole basis of the service pension schemes differs from ours. I doubt whether it is valid to pick out individual differences of approach for comparison. As regards the latter part of the supplementary question, the point is that when the officer's service ceases he has earned entitlement, but if he has no wife at that point he cannot subsequently earn further entitlement for a wife or widow.