§ 17. Mr. D. Jonesasked the Minister of Labour how many disabled people are registered in the north-east Lancashire area comprising the employment exchanges of Padiham, Burnley, Nelson and Colne; how many are unemployed; what percentage of the insured population in north-east Lancashire this represents; and how this compares with the national figure.
§ Mr. WhitelawAt the last counts, 3,809 persons were registered as disabled, and 367 such persons were unemployed. This represents 0.6 per cent. of the insured population compared with a national figure of 0.2 per cent.
§ Mr. JonesWill the Parliamentary Secretary not agree that those figures reveal a tremendous need for a rehabilitation unit, in, say, Burnley to cover the whole of that area? Since this is the second time that I have posed this question to the Minister, may I ask him if he will be kind enough to give me a statement on what the Ministry is prepared to do?
§ Mr. WhitelawI note what the hon. Gentleman has said. We consider that the two existing industrial rehabilitation units at Aintree and Denton adequately meet the needs of Lancashire. I have myself visited our industrial rehabilitation unit at Aintree. It does a first-class job, as I think the hon. Gentleman will agree.