§ Baroness Strangeasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many pre-1973 war widows relinquished their war widow's pension by virtue of remarriage or cohabitation for (a) 1999; (b) 2000; (c) 2001; (d) 2002; and (e) 2003. [HL2335]
§ Lord BachReliable data on pre-1973 war widows' pensions relinquished due to remarriage or cohabitation are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
§ Baroness Strangeasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many pre-1973 war widows are in receipt of a war widow's pension for (a) 1999; (b) 2000; (c) 2001; (d) 2002; and (e) 2003. [HL2334]
§ Lord BachData on pre-1973 war widows are not recorded directly.
However, all pre-1973 war widows should be in receipt of a "War widow's special allowance" (SPAL). This is a supplementary pension which is payable only to pre-1973 war widows.
The table below shows the number of war widows in receipt of SPAL according to the Veterans Agency computer system, as at 31 December for each year from 2000.
No data on SPAL in payment are available prior to March 2000. 59WA
Data as at: War Widows in receipt of SPAL 31 December 2000 49,345 31 December 2001 47,180 31 December 2002 44,695 31 December 2003 42,165 All figures are rounded to the nearest five.
Please note that these figures are published in table 1.2 of the War Pensions quarterly statistics, available in the House of Commons Library.