§ Mr. Fortescueasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the estimated cost of exempting from the earnings rule all those to be paid an attendance allowance under the proposals in the National Superannuation and Social Insurance Bill.
§ Mr. EnnalsPayment of the attendance allowance will not be subject to any earnings rule.
§ Mr. Fortescueasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how he reached his estimate of 50,000 people to be eligible for the attendance allowance proposed in the National Superannuation and Social Insurance Bill; and whether he will give an estimated breakdown of this figure by age, sex, region, and type of disablement.
251W
§ Mr. EnnalsI would refer the hon. Member to paragraph 40 of the Explanatory Memorandum on the National Superannuation and Social Insurance Bill 1969 (Cmnd. 4222). More detailed information, obtained from preliminary results of the Government survey of disabled adults living at home, suggests that over three quarters of adult beneficiaries will be aged 65 or over, and that over three-quarters will be women. Diseases of the central nervous system, diseases of bones and organs of movement, senility and ill-defined conditions, and diseases of the circulatory system, are likely to be the major categories of disablement. The South West, the South East, and the North West, seem to have a relatively high proportion of potential beneficiaries. These forecasts are inevitably tentative.