§ Mr. Spriggsasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance if she will seek powers to protect widows from being required to repay the National Assistance grants made to their late husbands whom an inquest has found to have died of pneumoconiosis.
§ Mr. PentlandI do not think this is necessary. I think my hon. Friend has in mind a situation where industrial injuries benefit is awarded retrospectively for a period during which the late husband received National Assistance. In these circumstances, under Section 13 of the National Assistance Act, 1948, the arrears due are abated only to the extent by which the amount of assistance paid exceeded the assistance that would have been paid had the benefit been received in the period for which it was due.