§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many 57W (a) supplementary benefit appeal tribunals, (b) national insurance local tribunals and (c) medical tribunal centres there are in each of the regions in
Region Supplementary Benefit Appeal Tribunals National Insurance Local Tribunals Medical Appeal Tribunals East Midlands and East Anglia 16 17 3 London, North 11 15 1 London, South 16 15 1 London, West 11 12 3 Merseyside 10 12 1 Northern 6 16 2 North Western (Manchester) 6 14 1 South Western 14 13 4 West Midlands 7 10 2 Yorkshire and Humberside 14 13 1 Wales 19 18 3 Scotland 29 23 2 Great Britain 159 178 24
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many of the following tribunals in each region are accessible to disabled people; and how often in the past five years (a) a supplementary benefit appeal tribunal, (b) a national insurance local tribunal and (c) a medical appeal tribunal, respectively, has been held in either the claimant's home or in an alternative building when the normal tribunal building was found to be inaccessible.
§ Mr. PrenticeI regret that information requested by the right hon. Gentleman is not immediately available and cannot be obtained without disproportionate cost. As he will be aware, the general policy is to hold sessions of these tribunals on premises which are independent of the Department. It is necessary, therefore, to rely on premises taken on a casual basis which may not always meet all our specific requirements. But I can assure the right hon. Gentleman that every effort is made to obtain tribunal premises that are easily accessible to disabled people.