§ 2.40 p.m.
§ Lord GRIDLEYMy 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 they are aware of the delay occasioned in the payment of pension to the widows of deceased officers of the Overseas Civil Service, due immediately on the death of these officers under the Widows and Orphans Pension Fund, and of the distress caused to the widows by this delay.
§ Baroness LLEWELYN-DAVIES of HASTOEMy Lords, overseas widows' and orphans' pensions are normally paid promptly but I am aware that sometimes there have been delays, usually when the pension is payable from a scheme managed outside the United Kingdom. In these cases Her Majesty's Government try to do everything possible to obtain an award and payment from the responsible overseas authority.
§ Lord GRIDLEYMy Lords, while thanking the noble Baroness for that reply, may I assure her that we are grateful for the help received from the 126 Government in this respect? Is she aware that principles are involved here and that the pension of every officer, when pensionable, on overseas territory must be approved by the Secretary of State? In that territory —in order to safeguard the position of his widow, because his pension ceases on death—he is required to pay into the widows' and orphans' pension fund. Is she further aware that there are now three cases where widows in that category on the death of their overseas husbands, former pensioners, have been waiting for three months or more for some sort of payment in connection with their pension?
§ Baroness LLEWELYN-DAVIES of HASTOEYes, my Lords. I think the whole House is grateful to the noble Lord for the constant vigilance that he exercises on behalf of these people. On the first point, we are very much aware of the principle that, when money has been paid in, it should be available for the widows. I think that the whole House will understand that where overseas countries have taken over the payment the solution really is to do what we are aiming to do: to get the whole thing transferred to Her Majesty's Government so that then delays will be very rare. In regard to the specific cases to which the noble Lord referred, I am sure that he will be glad to hear that three have already been paid and a fourth will be paid by the end of this month.
Baroness VICKERSMy Lords, may I ask the noble Baroness whether she will not agree that the countries concerned, where these civil servants acted so well, owe them a debt of gratitude? Will she also ask Malaysia to look into their cases, because the Malaysian civil servants were asked by the Government to stay on even though they had been prisoners of war under the Japanese and many of them were not in good health, and they nevertheless did so in order to help the country get on its feet again?
§ Baroness LLEWELYN-DAVIES of HASTOEMy Lords, not only this House and this country, but also the overseas countries concerned are very much aware of the debt of gratitude that is owed to these very deserving and distinguished public servants, and therefore to their widows.