– in the House of Commons at on 25 March 1943.
Mr William Foster
, Wigan
asked the Minister of Health the number of widows deprived of widows' pensions in cases where the husband has not made the necessary 104 contributions and give figures for each of the past five years?
Mr Ernest Brown
, Leith
I regret that the particulars asked for are not available, as rejected claims to widows' pensions under the Contributory Pensions Acts are not classified according to the specific ground of rejection.
Mr William Foster
, Wigan
Is the right hon. Gentleman not aware of the great hardships that exist in some of these cases, because no allowance is made for the circumstances responsible for the failure to make the necessary contributions? Would he consider taking action to ease the position?
Mr Ernest Brown
, Leith
My hon. Friend will know that this has been a matter of discussion from the beginning of the Acts and that wherever you draw the line, there are bound to be difficulties.
Mr John Tinker
, Leigh
Could not the right hon. Gentleman obtain the particulars asked for, so that we shall know the exact position when we discuss the Beveridge Report? Could he not see whether it is possible to do away with the contributions?
Mr Ernest Brown
, Leith
As the rejected claims are not classified according to the ground of rejection I do not see how I can do that.
Sir Frederick Messer
, Tottenham South
In view of the fact that old age pensioners can make good arrears of contribution, could not the right hon. Gentleman extend the same facility to widows?
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
