§ Mr. David Priceasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people were accepted by his Department as qualified to receive the mobility allowance at the latest date; how many applications are still being processed; how many more are anticipated in the final steps of phasing in this allowance; and how many to date have been refused.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisAt 16 February 1979, the latest date for which information is available, a total of 108,740 people were in receipt of mobility allowance This figure includes 22,142 people in receipt of special no-age-limit mobility allowance for ex-vehicle scheme beneficiaries. At the same date, 12,788 claims were being processed, and 49,443 claims had been disallowed—of which 14,307 were people not in an age-group eligible to claim the allowance.
When the scheme is fully phased in we expect there to be about 145,000 beneficiaries, including about 20,000 women aged 60 to 64 who will be able to claim when the Social Security Bill receives Royal Assent.