§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, pursuant to his reply of 24 July, Official Report, column 609, if he will estimate the cost of collecting centrally information on waiting times for a home assessment by an occupational therapist; and if he will now give consideration to obtaining this information.
§ Mr. NewtonWe cannot readily estimate the cost, but it would clearly be significant as it would be necessary to gather information from each of more than 300 health and social services authorities. As the information is unlikely to have much, if any, value as an indicator of the adequacy of services I would not feel justifed in putting those authorities to the trouble of collecting it and sending it to me.