§ Mr. Douglas Hoggasked the Secretary of State for Defence, referring to the written answer dated 4 June, what would be the additional annual cost of extending the widow's pension to all surviving spouses of deceased ex-Service men regardless of (a) the date of the marriage and (b) the date when the deceased husband left the Services.
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§ Mr. Speed: Since my Department does not maintain records of the number of marriages which were contracted by ex-Service men after their retirement, the information requested is not available. However, on the basis of the general statistics on the age of marriage, the cost for the Services alone is likely to be in the region of £8 million to £10 million per year. Since such a concession could not be limited to the Armed Forces, the total cost for the public services would be much greater.