§ Mr. Cartwrightasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many widows he estimates will benefit annually from the proposed widows' bereavement allowance;
(2) what would be the estimated annual cost of allowing widows the full married person's tax allowance during the financial year of their bereavement, irrespective of the month in which it occurred;
(3) what is the estimated full-year cost of the proposed widows' bereavement allowance.
§ Mr. Peter ReesInformation is not available which would enable all these28W per cent.—and this proportion rose to about 11 per cent. in 1978—manufacturing assets 2½ per cent.
amounts to be estimated with confidence. The cost of the proposed benefit at 1980–81 income levels will be about £2 million. It is thought that there will probably be of the order of 20,000 beneficiaries in 1980—81. The extra cost of giving the full allowance irrespective of the month of bereavement would probably be rather less than £1 million.