§ 29. Sir E. Erringtonasked the Minister of Health whether, in view of the fact that the cost would be about £750,000, he is now prepared to provide spectacles with unbreakable glass for young people between the ages of 7 and 14 years.
§ Mr. PowellNo, Sir.
§ Sir E. ErringtonWill my right hon. Friend reconsider this matter? There would be a substantial saving in replacement casts and, what is more important, there might be the means of saving quite a number of serious accidents.
§ Mr. PowellI have been looking into this matter. My information is that there 24 is no evidence of a single case of an accident due to the breaking of a lens. As, perhaps, my hon. Friend knows, wherever there are special clinical reasons—for example, where a child is a spastic or for other reasons is liable to fall—these lenses can be prescribed.