§ Mr. Moonmanasked the Minister of Social Security (1) what is the estimated 237W cost in working man hours lost of mental illness to the nation;
(2) what is the cost in sickness benefit paid to the mentally ill and the days of incapacity this reflected in 1966;
(3) in view of the fact that psychoses are the largest single group of illnesses causing long-term incapacity, what percentage of sufferers have been claiming benefit for over one year.
§ Miss HerbisonI have information only about sickness which is notified for the purpose of claiming sickness benefit and contribution credits under the National Insurance Acts.
The number of days of incapacity for work (excluding Sundays) caused by psychoneuroses and psychoses in the period from 1st June, 1964, to 5th June, 1965, the latest period for which information is available, is estimated at 28½ million and the corresponding cost of sickness benefit at £20 million. Some 90,000 persons were sick from these causes at the end of the period and nearly 60 per cent. of them had been incapacitated for more than a year.
§ Mr. Moonmanasked the Minister of Social Security what is the cost of social security benefit that was paid to the mentally ill not in receipt of sickness benefit in 1966.
§ Miss HerbisonI regret that this information is not available; payments of non-contributory benefit to sick people are not analysed according to the cause of incapacity. However, the total amount paid during 1966, in national assistance238W grants up to 28th November, and supplementary allowances from that date, to people who were sick but not entitled to national insurance sickness benefit was about £31 million.