§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people have been registered as blind on certificates BD8 in each of the past 10 years.
§ Mr. RossiAll people registered as blind with a local authority will have been certified as such by an 173W ophthalmologist on form BD8. The number of new registrations reported to the Department by local authorities since 1972 is as follows:
England Year ending 31 March Number of Persons Reported new blind registrations 1972 11,607 1973 11,331 1974 11,392 1975 10,581 1976 11,683 1977 12,279 1978 12,157 1979 12,078 1980 12,614 1981 No data collected
§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services in what percentage of cases of registration of blind people in each of the last eight years his Department received a copy of the certificate BD8; if he is satisfied that the information received by his Department is still of value for epidemiological purposes: and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RossiThe available information on the percentage of new cases of blindness in which forms BD8 are received and examined is shown in the following table. The information received by the Department is of value for epidemiological purposes but would be of more value if forms BD8 were submitted in a higher proportion of cases.
Year ending Age range Number of forms BD8 received and examined as a percentage of the number of reported new blind registrations in the age ranges requested* 1973 0–64 87.9 1974 0–64 79.8 1975 0–64 69.6 1976 0–64 62.4 1977 0–64 55.8 1978 0–15 60.8 1979 0–15 58.8 1980 0–15 57.7 * Only certificates of persons in the stated age ranges were received and examined.