asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the average length of time taken by her Department to issue widows' pension books following the death of the husband.
A widow who is under age 60 or whose husband is not entitled to retirement pension at the date of his death is usually entitled to widow's allowance for the first 26 weeks of widowhood: this can normally be put into payment within a few days of a claim being made. There may be a delay if records are not available locally. Any widow's pension or war widow's pension to which there is entitlement when
| NUMBER OF CLAIMS (THOUSANDS) | ||||||
| 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | |
| Great Britain | 6,076 | 6,595 | 6,959 | 4,506 | 4,862 | 5,120 |
| Scotland | 825 | 849 | 970 | 637 | 682 | 632 |
| Wales | 329 | 369 | 436 | 258 | 341 | 312 |
| England | 4,923 | 5,377 | 5,553 | 3,611 | 3,839 | 4,177 |
| Northern | 368 | 408 | 582 | 328 | 356 | 376 |
| Yorkshire and Humberside | 516 | 531 | 740 | 371 | 496 | 467 |
| East Midlands and East Anglia | 407 | 460 | 601 | 313 | 394 | 397 |
| London North | 557 | 650 | 525 | 390 | 351 | 403 |
| London South | 659 | 752 | 657 | 465 | 441 | 482 |
| London West | 476 | 521 | 461 | 324 | 328 | 388 |
| South Western | 309 | 329 | 323 | 251 | 269 | 367 |
| West Midlands | 532 | 567 | 553 | 400 | 434 | 495 |
| North West (Manchester) | 468 | 499 | 487 | 313 | 339 | 408 |
| North West (Merseyside) | 629 | 659 | 623 | 455 | 431 | 394 |
| NUMBER PER 1,000 OF POPULATION | ||||||
| 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | |
| Great Britain | 112 | 122 | 128 | 83 | 89 | 94 |
| Scotland | 159 | 163 | 186 | 122 | 130 | 121 |
| Wales | 120 | 135 | 159 | 94 | 124 | 113 |
| England | 106 | 117 | 120 | 78 | 83 | 90 |
| Northern | 110 | 124 | 177 | 105 | 114 | 120 |
| Yorkshire and Humberside | 107 | 110 | 153 | 76 | 101 | 95 |
| East Midlands and East Anglia | 81 | 91 | 117 | 58 | 72 | 72 |
| London North | 98 | 111 | 95 | 69 | 66 | 75 |
| London South | ||||||
| London West | ||||||
| Southwestern | 82 | 87 | 84 | 60 | 64 | 87 |
| West Midlands | 103 | 111 | 107 | 77 | 84 | 96 |
| North West (Manchester) | 162 | 172 | 164 | 116 | 117 | 122 |
| North West (Merseyside) | ||||||
Notes:
(1) The number of claims per 1,000 of population does not bear any relation to the number of claimants per 1,000 as one person could have made more than one claim during the 12-month period.
(2) The number of claims is based on D.H.S.S. administrative regions which do not precisely coincide with the standard regions used for population estimates.
(3) The 12 months period ends in November each year.