§ Lord Davies of Leekasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they intend to retain the rule stated in the Industrial Injuries Compensation document reprinted in March 1980 (page 53) that widow's benefit ceases on remarriage, but that a woman widowed as a result of an industrial accident qualifies for a gratuity of a year's pension (then £1,240): and how many women have qualified for this gratuity since 1979.
§ Lord TrefgarneI refer the noble Lord to the White Paper entitledReform of the Industrial Injuries Scheme* published last November in which Her Majesty's Government announced the proposal to abolish industrial death benefit as part of a reconstruction of the scheme. In 1980. 273 widows qualified for such a gratuity and provisionally the number of widows who received a gratuity in 1981 was 200.
*Cmnd. 8402.