§ Mr. Silvesterasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many people living in the United Kingdom are entitled to receive pensions from the Argentine Government; and what proposals he has for safeguarding these payments during the period of conflict.
§ Mr. OnslowWe have no information on the total number of United Kingdom residents entitled to receive Argentine pensions.
The payment of Argentine pensions has been suspended by the Argentine authorities. There is no statutory authority that would enable Her Majesty's Government to assume the lawful obligations of bodies resident in Argentina, or to provide financial compensation for the failure of the Argentine authorities' to meet those obligations. For our part we have placed no restrictions on the normal payment of pensions from Britain payable to residents of Argentina. In view of the hardship caused to pensioners by this Argentine action, we have asked the Swiss Government to make representations on our behalf to the Argentine authorities.
Supplementary benefit would be available to pensioners in these circumstances, subject to the normal qualifying conditions.