§ Mr. David Steelasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, further to his answer on 20th July, he will break down the figures between the number of claims successful and unsuccessful for free welfare foods and milk, free prescriptions and free dental and optical care for each quarter since 18th August 1970.
§ Sir K. JosephThe statistics are given below. I regret that the figures for dental and optical charge exemptions given in my earlier answer—[Vol. 860, c.539–40]—covered successful claims only.
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Free Welfare Milk and Vitamins Prescription Charge Exemptions Dental Charge Exemptions Optical Charge Exemptions Successful Unsuccessful Successful* Unsuccessful* Successful Unsuccessful Successful Unsuccessful 13 Weeks ending 18th August 1970 260 28 4,020 1,325 6,283 7,374 12,595 12,352 13 weeks ending 17th November 1970 265 35 4,238 1,286 6,367 8,071 13,123 13,373 18 weeks ending 23rd February 1971 263 28 5,317 1,348 8,110 10,923 14,224 16,138 13 weeks ending 22nd June 1971 69,543 49,897 43,943 36,185 22,502 18,990 41,043 34,014 13 weeks ending 21st September 1971 19,254 12,742 17,035 11,748 27,967 25,018 46,963 41,837 9 weeks ending 23rd November 1971 32,396 10,638 13,985 8,729 22,805 17,355 35,374 30,134 17 weeks ending 21st March 1972 24,330 8,595 18,680 11,958 42,911 29,121 56,754 45,511 8 weeks ending 16th May 1972 16,152 6,168 7,966 4,477 19,762 13,164 26,513 20,821 14 weeks ending 22nd August 1972 11,606 5,945 10,361 5,991 32,797 22,705 42,588 34,308 13 weeks ending 21st November 1972 13,451 4,754 10,294 5,065 29,280 21,077 41,797 33,450 25 weeks ending 15th May 1973 18,375 6,176 17,354 7,669 58,275 38,533 75,155 60,554 13 weeks ending 14th August 1973 5,767 2,419 7,752 3,608 28,619 19,196 36,822 29,371 * These columns do not include an unknown number of partially successful claims in which a refund of a charge already incurred was allowed but a certificate of exemption was not issued.