§ Mr. L. SCOTTasked the Home Secretary the number of pre-War police pensioners who have to try and keep themselves and their families without any added grants to cover the increase in the cost of living; what addition to their pension would be necessary to counterbalance the rise in the cost of living; whether the urgent attention of His Majesty's Government was called to the precarious position of these men 2436W by the Liverpool City Council on the 3rd December last and again on the 9th instant; and what, in the present stress of the national finances, the Government propose to do?
§ Mr. SHORTTThe number of pre-War police pensioners in the United Kingdom, as given in a reecnt Return (241), is 24,622. These men have received no increase of pension to counterbalance the cost of living; and while many are of an age at which they can well earn their living at enhanced wages, others are feeling the pressure severely. Many representations have reached me on the subject, including the resolution of the Liverpool Council, which I received on the 9th instant. The question of making an additional grant from public funds to these and other pensioners is now engaging the attention of a Committee of the Cabinet.