§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many disabled people in each category were registered with local authorities in England at 31 March.
§ Mr. PrenticeThe number of disabled people by category on local authority registers in England at 31 March 1978, the latest date at which figures are available, was as follows:
General classes 787,236 Blind 104,698 Partially sighted 47,635 Deaf with speech 14,223 Deaf without speech 14,830 Hard of hearing 31,289 Comparable figures for 31 March 1979 should be available by the end of the year.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement on his decision not to help with the funding of the survey of disabled people about which the director of social services for Newcastle upon Tyne has been in correspondence with his Department.
§ Mr. PrenticeThere is nothing I can usefully add to my letter to the right hon. Gentleman of 26 October. In the present economic circumstances the162W Department could not justify giving support.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what initiatives he has taken since May to assist disabled persons and their families.
§ Mr. PrenticeWe have completed the phasing in of mobility allowance, which is now available from age 5 to age 65; and there will be from 12 November the highest cash increase in social security benefits ever made.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what action he has taken since May regarding the provision of specialist vehicles for disabled persons.
§ Mr. PrenticeApart from adapted production cars for certain severely disabled war pensioners the Department no longer provides road vehicles but instead pays a mobility allowance shortly to be increased to £12 a week. Former invalid vehicle scheme beneficiaries who continue to use a three-wheeler were given an undertaking, which the Government intend to honour, that unless increasing disability makes it inevitable they will not be immobilised by phasing out of the three-wheeler.
The stock of suitable three-wheelers in relation to the steadily declining number of users will meet this obligation for some years yet and there is no immediate need to make other arrangements, but to facilitate planning for the future this Department and the Department of Transport jointly sponsored a research study undertaken by the motor industry research association to make an objective assessment of the extent to which the vehicle needs of this group—and those of disabled people generally—can or could be met by production cars, adapted as necessary. The MIRA report has recently been received and I am studying it carefully. As indicated in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Belper (Mrs. Faith) on 30 October copies have been placed in the library.—[Vol. 972, c. 512–13.] Copies have also been sent to the main organisations representing the disabled and to the sponsors of a number of projects, with which the Department has kept in close touch, aimed at producing vehicles designed for 163W disabled people. I shall be interested in the views of these various bodies.