Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many officials of his Department are working on potential options for compensation for war widows who remarried between 1973 and 2005.

Between 2003 and 2005 a total of 55 War Widows remarried and relinquished their War Widow's pensions. Records between 1996 and 2003 are incomplete but where there are records these show that 97 War Widow's pensions were relinquished during that period. The Department holds no relevant records prior to 1996.

I remain sympathetic to the circumstances of this group of widows and officials continue to consider potential options and expect that the financial and legal position will be clarified in the new year. The potential options are being dealt with by the policy team that has responsibility for compensation schemes.

Recent meetings on the subject of reinstatement of War Widow's pensions have included my meeting with Mrs Wills BEM, Chairman of the War Widow's Association of Great Britain, and with the hon. Member for Leeds North West (Mr Mulholland). Officials, on my behalf, met with the South East Fermanagh Foundation and Ulster Defence Regiment widows to discuss this issue.