HC Deb 21 July 1975 vol 896 cc89-90W
Mr. Corrie

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services why doctors practising outwith the National Health Service are unable to obtain form MED 3 for sickness benefit from the Department for the benefit of their patients.

Dr. Owen

Supplies of these forms are held by family practitioner committees—health boards in Scotland—for issue to doctors working in the National Health Service; where a patient attends a doctor not working in the National Health Service a certificate in some other form may be given for national insurance purposes. If the hon. Member has a particular case of difficulty, I or my right hon. Friend will be glad to look into it.

Mr. D. E. Thomas

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the number of days of certified incapacity for males, for sickness benefit purposes, expressed as rate per man at risk for Great Britain, Scotland, Wales, England and the English regions for 1974.

Mr. Meacher

The information is as follows:—

DAYS OF CERTIFIED INCAPACITY PER MAN AT RISK IN THE YEAR BEGINNING WITH THE FIRST MONDAY IN JUNE 1973
Great Britain 17
England 16
Scotland 20
Wales 33
Northern Region 26
Yorkshire & Humberside Region 22
East Midlands Region 17
East Anglia Region 11
South East Region 10
South West Region 17
West Midlands Region 15
North West Region 21

Note: (a) The figures include invalidity benefit, the long-term counterpart of sickness benefit;

(b) the figures have been calculated after applying the population at risk for 1972/1973, the latest base available.

Mr. D. E. Thomas

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will publish in the Official Report the number of persons reporting limiting long-standing illness per 1,000 population in Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and the English regions for the latest year for which figures are available.

Mr. Alfred Morris

The following information is available from the General Household Survey:—

PERSONS REPORTING CHRONIC SICKNESS, 1972
(Defined as any limiting long standing illness, disability or infirmity)
Rate per 1,000 population
North 141.6
Yorkshire and Humberside 137.9
North West 125.9
East Midlands 120.8
West Midlands 119.8
East Anglia 131.3
South East 104.9
of which
Greater London 113.9
Outer Metropolitan Area 94.6
Outer South East 103.9
South West 120.1
Wales 139.7
Scotland 99.5
Great Britain 118.6

A full discussion of these data appears in "The General Household Survey 1972" published for the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys by Her Majesty's Stationery Office on 25th June 1975.