asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what the number of war widows was on 1st November 1978.
As at 29th September 1978, the latest date for which figures are available, the number of war widows pensions in payment was 81,500.
asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his estimate for the purposes of future planning of the number of war widows who will still be living on 1st January 1979, 1st January 1980, 1st January 1981, 1st January 1982, 1st January 1983 and 1st January 1984.
The estimated numbers, currently used for future planning, are as follows:
| 1st January 1979 | 81,500 |
| 1st January 1980 | 78,350 |
| 1st January 1981 | 75,300 |
| 1st January1982 | 72,400 |
| 1st January1983 | 69,600 |
| 1st January1984 | 66,800 |
asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many widows are currently in receipt of a war widow's pension as a result of the death of their husbands for each of the years between 1945 and 1955.
The number of awards made in each year is as follow:
| Year ending 31st March 1945 | 34,994 |
| Year ending 31st March 1946 | 21,941 |
| Year ending 31st March 1947 | 8,439 |
| Year ending 31st March 1948 | 7,444 |
| Year ending 31st March 1949 | 5,096 |
| Year ending 31st March 1950 | 3,104 |
| Year ending 31st March 1951 | 2,351 |
| Year ending 31st March 1952 | 2,332 |
| Year ending 31st March 1953 | 1,694 |
| 1st April 1953 to 31st December 1953* | 1,175 |
| Year ending 31st December 1954 | 1,328 |
| Year ending 31st December 1955 | 1,268 |
| * The period for which records were kept changed from financial year to calendar year. | |
asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what would be the cost of a 100 per cent. increase in the rate of war widow's basic pension.
The estimated cost of increasing the standard rate war widow's pension—£25·30—by 100 per cent. is just over £107 million in a full year.