§ Mr. DuncanTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence in how many cases a post-1973 war widow has(a) been warned that she might lose her attributable forces family pension or (b) had the pension terminated on the ground that she had been co-habiting.
§ Mr. SoamesEach new award to a service widow or widower is accompanied by a guide explaining the conditions of the award. The information includes advice to the pensioner that the pension ceases on remarriage or on living with a partner as husband and wife. The Paymaster General also issues an annual newsletter to every pensioner which contains a reminder that the Paymaster General is to be informed in the event of a service widow or widower's remarriage or living with a new partner.
Information on the number of widows whose attributable forces family pension has ceased on living with a man as his wife is not available centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. DuncanTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many post—1973 war widows are currently in receipt of an attributable forces family pension.
§ Mr. SoamesDepartmental records of service widows pensions in payment do not separately identify those in receipt of attributable forces family pensions. There are, however, some 64,000 armed forces dependants' pensions in payment of which it is estimated some 2,000 will be attributable forces family pensions to service widows.
§ Mr. DuncanTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the total annual cost of the attributable forces family pension currently being paid to post-1973 war widows.
§ Mr. SoamesDepartmental records of service widows pensions in payment do not separately identify those in 719W receipt of attributable forces family pensions and therefore it is not possible easily to isolate the total annual cost of such pensions.
The current rates of attributable pensions for the dependants of those who gave service on or after 31 December 1994, excluding senior officers, range between £4,882 and £20,493 per annum.