§ Sir A. HUNTER-WESTONasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty what would be the amount required in the ensuing financial year, 1922–23, to extend the provisions of the recommendations of the Jerram Committee to all naval pensioners; and what would be the 1243W probable cost in each of the next succeeding 10 years, by which time, presumably, practically the whole of these old pensioners will have died out?
§ Mr. AMERYOn the assumption that the extension took effect as from 1st April, 1922, the gross cost during 1922–23 is estimated as £350,000. The average reduction during the next few years would be about £20,000 a year, but the entire charge would not be extinguished until a considerable number of years had elapsed. The suggested extension, if carried into effect, would, however, result in the cancellation of percentage additions to pensions amounting in the aggregate at present to £170,000 a year, which are in course of issue to the majority of the pensioners in question under the provisions of the "Pensions (Increase) Act, 1920." The net additional expenditure during 1922–23, therefore, would be reduced to about £180,000.