§ Mr. Litterickasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many registered blind children and partially blind children, respectively, there are in each region of the United Kingdom at the latest date for which this information is available.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisI refer my hon. Friend to my Department's publication "Registered Blind and Partially Sighted Persons, Year Ending 31st March 1977, England" (A /F77/7) a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House. Information has not yet been published in respect of Wales, but I understand that 118 children between the ages of 0 and 15 were registered as blind at 31st March 1977, and a further 105 were registered as partially sighted. In Scotland, comparable figures have not been collected centrally since 31st December 1974, when 192 children were registered as blind. I regret that the information requested is not available in respect of partially sighted children in Scotland and of blind and partially sighted children in Northern Ireland.