To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the current value in real terms of the £1,000 widow's payment announced in June 1985.

The widow's payment was introduced in April 1988. The current value of the payment at June 1991 prices is £789.

Does the hon. Lady agree that the widow's payment was announced six and not three years ago and that at that time the widow's allowance that it replaced was running at £50 a year, which would now be worth £72 a year, making the widow's payment not £1,000 but £1,450? Is it not a disgrace that the Government have allowed these almost invisible salami cuts against this most vulnerable group of people? Is it not about time that we had a widows' charter?

The reforms that we have already introduced and the changes that we have made to the widows' allowances effectively amount to a widows' charter. We have introduced reforms which direct benefits towards those widows who are older and who therefore do not have a work record and also towards those with dependent children. We keep the level of the widow's allowance regularly under review, but I say to the hon. Gentleman what I said in response to an earlier question. The allowance is payable to every widow. We have to consider the proper use of resources. It is better to direct them towards those in need, as we have done.

Does my hon. Friend agree that this benefit, which has only recently been introduced, is much better than the death grant, which was laughable, and that its introduction is a credit to the Government?

Yes, indeed. The death grant had long ceased to be a realistic figure. Benefits which provide immediate relief, through immediate payments, are very much to be preferred. Everybody with the necessary contributions record will benefit from this payment. It is therefore designed to relieve immediate need in a way that the death grant did not manage to do.