§ 2.45 p.m.
§ LORD FRASER OF LONSDALEMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in view of the prospect that widespread salary and wages increases may take place later in the year, and having regard to the rise in the cost of living and the standard of living, Ministers concerned will bear in mind the needs of war pensioners and war widows, so that they do not lag behind in any improvement that may be generally enjoyed and, in particular, whether the Chancellor of the Exchequer will take this contingency into account when planning his use of national resources.]
§ LORD SHEPHERDI can assure the noble Lord that the Government have kept, and will continue to keep, the needs of war pensioners and war widows very much in mind.
§ LORD FRASER OF LONSDALEMy Lords, I thank the Ministers and Members of both Houses and of both Parties for their consideration in this matter over many decades. May I ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will have in mind that when there is a little release of financial tension there will be a queue, backed up by powerful industrial interests on both sides; and will they make sure that the ex-Servicemen, who have no such powerful organisations, are in their proper place in the queue?
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, I can say on behalf of the Government that we have a great deal of sympathy with the approach of the noble Lord. If I may say so, although the number of war pensioners and war widows declines over the course of time, the approach of associations, in which the noble Lord himself plays a very prominent part, would never leave any Government in any doubt as 1284 to the position these people should hold in our thoughts concerning the development of our social system. Perhaps I may refer the noble Lord to what my right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer said yesterday:
We have, therefore, in the context of the long-term planning operation announced by the First Secretary last November, launched an exercise to bring our long-term expediture programmes into line with growth prospects up to 1970 as we now see them and to reconsider priorities between the different long-term programmes."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, Commons, 11/4/67; col. 990.]The question of social security and of looking after the war pensioners and widows is obviously included in that aim.
§ LORD FRASER OF LONSDALEI thank the noble Lord very much. I hope that it will not be a too long-term matter.