§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will make a statement about the implementation 117W during 1974–75 of the requirement upon local authorities in Section 1 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 to identify disabled people in their areas.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisI am very glad to be able to report that, during 1974–75, local authorities in England added the names of 135,700 disabled people to their general class registers. These registers include people other than (hose with visual or hearing disabilities. The number of newly identified disabled people in 1974–75 is nearly 30 per cent. higher than the comparable figure for 1973–74. Moreover, authorities have made a greater effort to keep their registers realistically up to date. The names of 53,000 people no longer registrable were removed, compared to a figure of 21,000 in 1973–74. The net effect is that numbers on the general class registers increased by 17 per cent. in 1974–75, making a total of 580,000. This compares with a figure of 234,000 five years ago when the Act became law. Including those registered as blind, partially sighted, deaf and hard of hearing, the total now registered is 766,000.
In view of the financial difficulties they have experienced, their efforts in this field reflect the greatest credit on many local authorities, and I warmly congratulate them on the progress they have made.