§ Mr. Parkerasked the Minister of Pensions what are the normal rates of pension paid to the guardians of war orphans for looking after them and how they differ from those paid to other orphans?
§ Sir W. WomersleyThe pension payable by my Department in respect of a total war orphan in the care of a guardian is £60 a year where the deceased member of the Armed Forces or the Mercantile Marine was an officer, £45 a year where he was a Warrant Officer in the Royal Navy, and 12s. a week in any other case. If the child comes within my care under the provisions of the War Orphans Act, 1942, the pension is supplemented where necessary by additional grants for clothing and other items, according to the needs of the case. Different rates are payable where the child has lost only one parent and a widow's pension is in payment to the mother: here the rates are £36 a year in officers' cases, £28 a year in Naval Warrant Officers' cases, and in other cases 9s. 6d. for the first, 8s. 6d. for the second and 7s. 6d. a week for each other child. Additional allowances may be paid for education in all classes of case.
§ Mr. Leachasked the Secretary of State for War whether the relatives of the late Rifleman W. C. Clayton, subject of the recent detention barracks inquiry, are barred from claim for pension or compensation; and whether he will consider some form of financial redress in this case?
§ Mr. A. HendersonI understand my right hon. Friend the Minister of Pensions is now examining this case.