§ Mr. Banksasked the Secretary of State for Defence what would be the cost of abolishing the distinction in pension rights between the widows of pre-September 1950 officers and warrant officers on the one hand, and of other ranks on the other; and how many individuals would be involved.
§ Mr. Duffy:No records are available from which estimates can be made as to the numbers of widows of Service men below the rank of Warrant Officer Class I who retired to pension before 1st September 1950. In 1974, in reply to a Question from the hon. Member for Wells (Mr. Bolsover)—[Vol. 871, c. 311–312]—an assumption was made that there were about 30,000 such widows for all three Services. There is no evidence to justify altering this assumption. Even on the basis of this assumption, however, it is not possible to assess the cost of 691W paying pensions under current arrangements to these widows. It would be necessary to know the rank held by the husband on his retirement or death and the length of his service; all this information is not available.