HL Deb 22 February 1983 vol 439 c746WA
Baroness Jeger

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What assistance is given to war widows, other than those bereaved in the Falklands campaign, to visit the overseas graves of their late husbands; and how many widows and other next-of-kin have been enabled to make such visits.

Lord Glenarthur

In the years immediately following World War II some financial assistance from public funds was given to enable next-of-kin to visit the war cemeteries that had been established in Europe. No figures are available to show how many relatives took advantage of these arrangements. No assistance is now given by Her Majesty's Government.

The arrangements being made for the close relatives of the men who died in the Falklands conflict to visit the islands are essentially in line with normal peacetime arrangements. These were introduced in 1967 and allow the next-of-kin, and a companion, to travel at public expense to visit the grave of a serviceman buried overseas within two years of the burial.