§ Mr. William Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will revise the entitlement to an invalidity allowance so that its amount bears relation to the length of the invalidity during 285W the lifetime of the recipient as well as the age of the recipient.
§ Sir K. JosephI am aware of the case which the hon. Member has recently taken up with my Department, and I appreciate the point which he has in mind. But in introducing the new invalidity benefit in September we necessarily had to devise provisions and draw dividing lines which were applicable to the great majority of the chronic sick and their circumstances; and I regret that I see no prospect of making a change such as that suggested by the hon. Member.
Authority Population Home Nurses* Auxiliaries* Total* Population per head of Staff England and Wales … … 48,987,700 9,292 987 10,279 4,766 England … … 46,253,830 8,609 966 9,575 4,831 Birmingham … … 1,084,180 220.5 24.6 245.1 4,423 Bradford … … 291,960 47.0 1.4 48.4 6,032 Bristol … … 426,370 72.5 41.4 113.9 3,743 Cardiff … … 284,010 51.0 13.0 64.0 4,438 Coventry … … 335,230 51.0 17.8 68.8 4,873 Derby … … 220,130 37.3 4.5 41.8 5,266 Kingston upon Hull … … 290,270 42.0 — 42.0 6,911 Leeds … … 502,320 79.0 10.0 89.0 5,644 Leicester … … 276,690 56.6 — 56.6 4,888 Liverpool … … 667,000 116.0 13.0 129.0 5,171 Manchester … … 590,000 117.5 11.5 129.0 4,574 Newcastle upon Tyne … … 236,730 42.7 3.5 46.2 5,124 Nottingham … … 300,580 60.0 — 60.0 5,010 Plymouth … … 256,600 49.0 4.0 53.0 4,841 Portsmouth … … 211,790 24.0 16.3 40.3 5,255 Sheffield … … 525,230 131.0 55.0 186.0 2,824 Southampton … … 209,660 33.0 10.0 43.0 4,876 Stoke on Trent … … 270,800 42.5 — 42.5 6,372 Teesside … … 411,200 58.1 11.4 69.5 5,197 Wolverhampton … … 263,580 33.4 5.8 39.2 6,724 *Numbers in whole-time equivalents. Population June, 1970: Later figures are not yet available for the whole country. The figures for Portsmouth for 30th September, 1971 show a significant improvement as follows: 204,280 population, 30.5 home nurses, 24.7 auxiliaries giving a total of 55.2 staff and an improved staff/population ratio of 1:3,700.