§ Mr. Freemanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give statistics for the number of war widows presently receiving war widows' pensions in Great Britain, separating the figures between women widowed (a) before 1973 and (b) since 1973.
§ Mr. WhitneyThere were 66,350 war widows' pensions in payment at 29 March 1985. No details are available of the numbers widowed before and after 1973. Under the war pensions scheme, widows' pensions are paid at the same rate regardless of the date of the service man's death, although widows of service men who served after 1973 and whose death is attributable to service will, without exception, also receive an occupational widows' pension from the Ministry of Defence.