§ Mr. Jesselasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will take steps to deal with the shortage of optical glass and reduce the waiting period for spectacles; and if she will make a statement.
§ Mr. Alec Jones:There is no shortage of optical glass. Long waiting periods for some spectacles have resulted from the combination of a significant increase in demand, labour disputes in the lens manufacturing industry last autumn and manufacturing difficulties encountered by one of the principal United Kingdom suppliers.
Adequate supplies of single vision lenses are now available from the manufacturers but normal supply of solid bifocal lenses may not be resumed before the end of this year and until then I regret that waiting periods for some prescriptions are inevitable. We are keeping in close touch with the manufacturers.