§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services why, pursuant to his reply of 14 March, Official Report, column 241, it is no longer possible to produce costings compatible with the figures given earlier for the Black report's recommendations 10, 12, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29; and what is the likely present cost of implementing the same recommendations.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe estimates given earlier of the costs of implementing these recommendations were either updatings of figures given in the report, which88W themselves were not always precise estimates, or were based on arbitrary assumptions about demography and benefit rates. Since the Black report was produced in 1980, there have been policy changes which affect what might be involved in implementing these recommendations, and there is more recent demographic information. The earlier estimates do not therefore form a realistic basis for further useful estimates. The recommendations would certainly result in expenditure on a scale which it would be unrealistic to contemplate and we do not consider the work of producing detailed estimates of present costs would be justified.