§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many persons have applied for a constant attendance allowance during each week since January, 1971; and how many have been granted and how many rejected.
§ Mr. DeanI assume that the hon. Member is referring to the new attendance allowance to be provided under the National Insurance (Old Persons' and Widows' Pensions and Attendance Allowance) Act, 1970. Claims to the allowance have been accepted from 7th June, 1971, in preparation for first payments from 6th December, 1971. The 257W number of claims received for each week ending on a Tuesday are:
8th June, 1971 39 15th June, 1971 3,251 22nd June, 1971 5,715 29th June, 1971 7,136 6th July, 1971 5,802 13th July, 1971 4,230 20th July, 1971 3,778 27th July, 1971 3,145 33,096 The process of deciding claims is in its early stages, and to 27th July there had been 3,022 awards and 2,970 rejections.