§ Miss Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, in relation to the postal surveys of recipients of attendance allowance to estimate the cost of extending invalid care allowance to married women, he will state (a) how the sample was chosen, (b) how large the samples were and what percentage this was of total recipients of attendance allowance, (c) whether the samples were the same in 1980 and in the present survey, (d) what the results were of the 1980 survey and (e) when the results of the latest survey will be published.
§ Mr. RossiThe survey carried out in September 1982 was the only postal one. The 1980 survey was based on a statistical analysis of all claims to attendance allowance but without individual inquiries. For the 1982 survey, some 2,100 inquiry forms were issued to attendance allowance recipients chosen by statistically approved random sampling. The 1,600 effective replies represented about .5 per cent of all recipients of the allowance. The 1980 survey suggested that if invalid care allowance had then been extended to married women, about 110,000 women might have been eligible. The 1982 survey indicates that abut 80,000 could be eligible at a net annual cost of about £60 million. I have no plans to publish the results separately.