§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many widows under the age of 45 years currently receive widow's pensions.
§ Mr. Peter LloydAs at 31 March 1988, the latest date for which information is available, approximately 4,500 widows aged under 45 were in receipt of widow's pension, which is payable to widows without dependent children.
694W(3) if he will provide the number of medical records information and technology staff analysed by each health service region and give for each region the percentage which the total of such staff bears to the overall number employed in that region.
§ Mr. MellorThe work is performed by staff in a number of different grades and on different pay scales. Information on the average cost of such staff or on their breakdown into different age groups could not be provided except at disproportionate cost. The table shows, for each of the health service regions in England, the numbers of staff employed in medical records and in computing, and these numbers expressed as a percentage of total staff, at the latest available date of information. Comparative information on other countries is not available.
§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has of the number of women aged between 40 and 45 years of age who will be widowed during 1988.
§ Mr. Peter LloydLatest estimates indicate that approximately 4,000 women aged between 40 and 45 will be widowed during 1988.
§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when he last reviewed the level of the widow's pension; and if he will make a statement.
695W
§ Mr. Peter LloydMy right hon. Friend reviewed the widow's payment at the same time as other benefits, before he made his uprating announcement to the House on 27 October.