§ Dame Irene Wardasked the Minister of Defence (1) how many widows of Regular officers of the three Armed Services and the Indian Armed Services are in receipt of ordinary widows' pensions; and how many of these are receiving £189 a year or less, because they are widows of lieutenant-colonels or below and equivalent ranks in the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force;
(2) what is the number of widows of Regular officers of the three Armed Services and Indian Armed Services whose deaths were due to service who are in receipt of attributable pensions;
(3) what is the annual cost of providing pensions for the widows of Regular officers showing ordinary and attributable pensions separately.
§ Mr. Sandys9,988 widows of Regular officers of the three Armed Services and the Indian Armed Services are in receipt of ordinary widows' pensions. 421 receive a modified rate of pension because they also receive attributable awards from the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance. 7,859 receive pensions of £189 a year or less. 689 widows receive attributable pensions from Service or Commonwealth Relations Office votes. The annual cost of ordinary pensions is £1,572,423 and of attributable pensions is £161,072.
The Service Departments, and the C.R.O. in the case of widows of regular officers of the Indian Armed Forces, are responsible for the payment of widows' pensions in respect of their husbands' services. The Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance is responsible for the payment of all attributable pensions for the U.K. Forces, i.e. widows' pensions where the death of the husband was attributed to his service, except in cases arising before World War I and between World Wars I and II. The Commonwealth Relations Office is responsible for payment of all attributable cases whenever they arose.