§ Mr. HARNEYasked the Minister of Health the number of widows', children's, and orphans' pensions, respectively, paid during the year ended 31st March, 1928; the number of applications for widows', children's, and orphans' pensions, respectively, during the year ended 31st March, 1928; the amounts paid in widows', children's, and orphans' pensions, respectively, during the year ended 31st March, 1928; the number of applications for widows', children's, and orphans' pensions disallowed during the period under review, giving the principal reasons for disallowment; the number of widows in receipt of pensions whose widowhood commenced before 4th January, 1926; the number of children and orphans, respectively, in respect of whom allowances are paid, and whose qualifications were previous to 4th January, 1926; the number of appeals against the decision of the Ministry of Health by applicants for or recipients of old age pensions, widows' pensions, children's allowances, and orphans' pensions, respectively, stating the number of successful appeals, respectively; the estimated number of insured persons under the Widows', Orphans' and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act, 1925; the number of voluntary contributors, men and women, respectively, stating how many of these became voluntary contributors during the period under review; the cost of administration of pensions under the Widows', Orphans' and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act by post offices and the Ministry of Health, respectively; the number of the staff employed by the Ministry of Health on work resultant from the operation of the Act, stating the increase of the staff as a result of the introduction of the Widows', Orphans' and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act, and the cost thereof; the number of pensioners of whose death notice has reached the Ministry of Health, giving the numbers, respectively, of widows, children, orphans, and aged persons; the number of pensioners under the Widows', Orphans' and Old Age Contributory 254W Pensions Act who are in receipt of outdoor relief and institutional relief, respectively; and the amount so expended?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINThe following particulars relate to England and Wales.
As regards the first part of the question, 202,930 widows' pensions and 15,590 orphans' pensions were paid during the year ended 31st March, 1928, and it is estimated that 257,500 children's allowances were included in the widows' pensions; as regards the second part, 68,257 applications for widows' pensions and 2,183 for orphans' pensions were made during the year but the number of applications for children's allowances included in the applications for widows' pensions is not available; as regards the third part £6,840,000 was paid in widows' pensions including children's allowances and £260,000 in orphans' pensions; as regards the fourth part, 11,052 applications for widows' pensions and 186 applications for orphans' pensions were rejected during the year, but the number of children included in the applications for widows' pensions is not known; the principal reasons for rejection were that the deceased husband or parent had not been insured for the required period or that the required number of contributions had not been paid in respect of him; as regards the fifth part, on 31st March, 1928, 81,068 widows whose husbands died before 4th January, 1926, were in receipt of pensions; as regards the sixth part, on 31st March, 1928, 147,603 children whose fathers died before 4th January, 1926, were in receipt of allowances and 10,264 in receipt of orphans' pensions; as regards the seventh part, 7,387 appeals in connection with old age pensions, and 2,709 in connection with widows' and orphans' pensions were received of which 327 relating to old age pensions and 231 relating to widows' and orphans' pensions were successful; figures are not available to show separately the number of appeals relating to widows' pensions and the number relating to orphans' pensions, or the number in which the only question involved was the payment of children's allowances; as regards the eigth part, the estimated number of insured persons under the Contributory Pensions Act, 1925, on 81st March, 1928, was 14,900,000; as regards the ninth part, the estimated number 255W of voluntary contributors was 192,000 men and 27,000 women, of whom it is estimated that 27,000 men and 4,500 women became voluntary contributors during the year; as regards the tenth part, the estimated cost of administration was £251,600 by post offices and £391,350 by the Ministry of Health (and there was, in addition, £113,150 by other Government Departments); as regards the eleventh part, the number of staff at present employed on work resultant from the operation of the Act is 1,524; the
256W
— Widows entitled to widows' pensions including allowances for children. Dependent children in respect of whom allowances were included in the pensions of the widows in Column 2. Pensioned widows without dependent children. Orphan children entitled to pensions. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Numbers in receipt of— (a) Institutional Relief … *371 678 966 556 (b) Domiciliary Belief … 12,036 31,012 2,805 855 Totals … 12,407 31,690 3,771 1,411 * Including 228 widows who would not have been in receipt of relief but for relief granted to a dependant in an institution. increase of the staff as a result of the introduction of the Act is 1,379 at an approximate cost of £280,000 for a complete year; as> regards the twelfth part, the deaths of 2,801 widows, 1,503 children and 3,548 aged persons in receipt of pensions or allowances have been notified to the Department; as regards the thirteenth part, according to returns furnished by boards of guardians, the numbers of pensioners who were in receipt of Poor Law relief on the night of the 1st January, 1928, were as follow: