HC Deb 23 June 1976 vol 913 cc555-6W
Mr. Robertson

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what is the estimated cost to public funds of providing blind adult persons with telephones free of installation charges and free of rental charges;

(2) how many telephones are provided free of installation charges by each local authority in Scotland;

(3) how many registered blind people in Scotland are without telephones in their homes;

(4) how many registered blind persons there are in each local authority area in Scotland.

Mr. McElhone

At 31st December 1974 there were 10,063 registered blind persons in Scotland. The numbers of those persons in the 52 former local authorities in Scotland were as follows:

Area
Burgh of Inverness … 57
Counties of Caithness … 47
Inverness … 111
Ross and Cromarty … 163
Sutherland … 29
City of Aberdeen … 324

Counties of Aberdeen and Kincardine 246
Banff 114
Moray and Nairn 133
City of Dundee 411
Burghs of Arbroath 30
Perth 92
Counties of Angus 109
Perth and Kinross 155
Burghs of Dunfermline 66
Kirkcaldy 133
County of Fife 451
City of Edinburgh 1261
Counties of Midlothian, East Lothian and Peebles 424
West Lothian 197
Counties of Berwick 56
Roxburgh 97
Selkirk 51
Burghs of Falkirk 63
Stirling 46
Counties of Clackmannan 106
Stirling 214
City of Glasgow 1898
Burghs of Airdrie 57
Ayr 85
Clydebank 76
Coatbridge 109
Dumbarton 36
East Kilbride 57
Greenock and Port Glasgow 248
Hamilton 80
Kilmarnock 76
Motherwell and Wishaw 125
Paisley 162
Rutherglen 50
Counties of Argyll 99
Ayr 379
Bute 48
Dumbarton 179
Lanark 532
Renfrew 215
Burgh of Dumfries 60
Counties of Dumfries 119
Kirkcudbright 54
Wigtown 71
Orkney 29
Zetland 33

Information about the number of registered blind persons who do not have telephones in their homes is not available centrally.

There were 9,891 registered blind adult persons in Scotland at 31st December 1974, and it is estimated that to provide each of them with free telephone installation and a year's rental would cost over £800,000.

In the year ended 31st December 1974, 817 persons were assisted by local authorities in Scotland towards the installation of a telephone but information about the number of installations provided free of charge is not obtained centrally.