§ Mr. Freudasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what has been the standard of life in real terms available to a blind man with a sighted wife and no dependants on available benefits in each of the past five years.
§ Mr. Orme:I assume the hon. Member is referring to the value of the relevant supplementary benefit scale rates which are set out in the table below. The great majority of blind recipients of supplementary benefit are on the long-term scale:
staff and by the incidence of additional expenditure in the provision of facilities for the clinical teaching of medical and dental students, which also applies to the figure for the Northern regional health authority in so far as it includes expenditure of the Newcastle area health authority (T). The United Kingdom figure includes expenditure of the 12 preserved boards of governors of postgraduate teaching hospitals in London.
2. The population figures used take no account of people who are provided with treatment outside their area of residence, nor are they adjusted for differences in the morbidity and age/sex structures of the relative populations.
3. The figure for the Northumberland area health authority includes an appropriate proportion of the cost of services provided by the Northern regional health authority, that is, ambulance, blood transfusion services and so on. The cost of these services amounts to £4 per head of population.