§ Mr. Skinnerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will estimate the cost of extending invalid care allowance to disabled married women at 1981–82 benefit rates.
§ Mr. RossiThe gross annual cost of extending the benefit to all married women would be of the order of £100 million. The net cost would be considerably less because of savings from the offset of dependency and supplementary benefits. No firm estimate is available but the net cost could be expected to be at least £40 million. It is not known how many of these married women are disabled.