HC Deb 31 January 2001 vol 362 cc237-8W
Mr. Winnick

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement about the funding of ex-gratia payments to former Far Eastern prisoners of war or their surviving spouses. [148536]

Mr. Bayley

The authority to make these payments will rest entirely on the Appropriation Act. Parliamentary approval for this new scheme will be sought in a Supplementary Estimate for the Central Government Administered Social Security Benefits and Other Payments Vote (Class XII Vote 1).

Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £190 million will be met by repayable advances from the Contingencies Fund.