§ Captain Bullockasked the Home Secretary what is the present approximate number of surviving widows of police officers who retired before 1919 and who are accordingly not entitled to any pension; whether he is aware that many of these widows are obliged to have recourse to the public assistance committees; what would be the approximate cost of granting them the same pensions as are given to widows of police officers who retired after 1919; and whether, in these circumstances, he will consider taking steps to enable such pensions to be paid?
§ Sir S. HoareI regret that the information asked for in the first part of the question is not available, and that no estimate can therefore be given of the probable cost of granting police pensions to the widows of police officers who retired before 1919. The question of the date of operation of the scheme was carefully considered when the scheme was adopted, and the question whether the decision then taken by Parliament ought to be modified has been raised and considered on many occasions, but the decision has always been that the existing law must be maintained.