§ Major COHENasked the Minister of Pensions if he will endeavour to ascertain the amount of money his Department has saved as a result of the operation of the Widows', Orphans', and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act, in so far as it applies to certain allowances made by the Special Grants Committee and also to widows who were receiving War pensions under Article 17A of the 1924 Warrant at a rate of less than 10s. a week?
§ Mr. F. O. ROBERTSThere is no saving to the Vote of my Department in consequence of the operation of the Con- 271W tributory Pensions Acts in the case of pensions awarded under Article 17A of the 1924 Warrant. The amount by which any of the compassionate allowances granted by the Special Grants Committee may have been reduced in consequence of the grant of contributory pension could only be ascertained by investigation of a number of individual cases dealt with over the past five years, and the labour involved would not, I fear, be commensurate with the value of the information obtained. I understand that in the aggregate the amount would probably be comparatively small.