§ 65 and 66. Mr. Burdenasked the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many widows of ex-naval ratings who left the Royal Navy prior to 1st September, 1950, are not entitled to draw Service widow's pensions; and what would be the cost of including them in the Service pensions scheme;
(2) what estimate he has made of the cost of paying Service widows pensions 295W at current rates to the widows of Servicemen who left the forces prior to 1st September, 1950.
§ Mr. J. P. W. MallalieuPrecise figures are not available. The number of these widows for all Services is thought to be about 33,000 and the cost of awarding pensions at current rates about £2.75 million. Figures for the Royal Navy alone are about 17,000 and about £1.4 million respectively.