§ Mr. Andrew BowdenTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what plans he has to extend payment of Civil Service widows' pensions to the widows of post-retirement marriages with civil servants who retired before April 1978;
(2) what would be the cost of extending payment of Civil Service widows' pensions to the widows of post-retirement marriages with civil servants who retired before April 1978.
§ Mr. RyderI am afraid that I can hold out no hope of amendment of the Civil Service pension scheme to provide for the payment of pensions to the widows of post-retirement marriages whose husbands retired before 6 April 1978. It is rarely, if ever, possible to make retrospective improvements in pension arrangements and an exception in this particular case could not be justified. The data necessary for a reliable assessment to be made of the cost of an extension in widow's pension cover are not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate expenditure of time and resources.