To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received regarding the non-payment of civil service widows' pensions to the widows of post-retirement marriages with civil servants who retired before 6 April 1978.

A number of representations have been received about the arrangements made by the civil service pension scheme for the payment of pensions to the widows of post-retirement marriages. These seek an extension of those arrangements to include those widows of post-retirement marriages whose husbands retired before 6 April 1978. The Government have no plans to extend the present arrangements.