§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, on the basis of 897W the latest estimates available to him, what would be the gross cost of paying the 100 per cent. rate, the 80 per cent. rate and the 60 per cent. rate, respectively, of industrial disablement benefit to all persons in Great Britain who are very severely handicapped on the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys criteria; and what is his estimate of the savings there would be on supplementary benefit payments.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisUsing the estimate of numbers of very severely handicapped people given in the OPCS survey—Handicapped and Impaired in Great Britain—HMSO 1971—the gross annual cost of paying a benefit equivalent to industrial disablement benefit at the rates specified below, would be:
- 100 per cent. rate: £233 million.
- 80 per cent. rate: £187 million.
- 60 per cent. rate: £140 million.
These figures exclude any supplementary allowances payable in addition to, and current expenditure on, industrial disablement benefit or war disablement pension.
I regret it is not possible to estimate any savings on supplementary benefit payments.