WAR WIDOWS' PENSIONS (Hansard, 22 May 1979)

§ Lord CHALFONT
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

§ The MINISTER of STATE, MINISTRY of DEFENCE (Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal)
My Lords, I assume that 227 the noble Lord is referring to pensions awarded under the Armed Forces Pension scheme to the widows of Servicemen whose deaths are attributable to their service, rather than to War Widows' pensions themselves, which are awarded in the main by the Department of Health and Social Security. The relevant current Armed Forces Pension regulations were introduced on 1st April 1973. They provide for a widow's pension related only to the husband's rank, without any period of qualifying service. They provided a substantial improvement in benefit over the earlier regulations, under which there had to be in addition a minimum period of qualifying service. If the noble Lord has a particular case in mind, I shall be happy to look into it.

§ Lord CHALFONT
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that Answer. I have no specific case in mind; rather, it is a more general case. I should like to ask the noble Lord, by way of a supplementary question, whether the war widows, in addition to the pensions they receive under the war widows' scheme, are eligible for National Insurance scheme pensions in the same way as are other widows. More specifically—and this is the point of my question—are very old war widows (those aged over 80) eligible for the old person's pension in the same way as other widows over 80?

§ Lord STRATHCONA and MOUNT ROYAL
My Lords, I think that it would be unwise of me to try to give an ex cathedra answer in an oral manner, across the Floor of the House, to a rather complicated pensions question. Perhaps I may write to the noble Lord to give him positive guidance after I have taken advice on this question.

§ Lord CHALFONT
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord. Perhaps it would help if I were to table a Question for Written Answer.