§ Lord RENTONasked Her Majesty's Government:
How much money has been spent by the Department of Employment out of its research funds on subjects connected with the employment of those suffering from, respectively, mental handicap, physical handicap, visual handicap and hearing handicap.
The Earl of GOWRIEMy department has not paid for research on these subjects. I am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that most of their research projects in this area cover a number of disabilities and so it is not possible to disaggregate expenditure by each of the categories requested. However, total expenditure from MSC's research funds on the employment of disabled people for each of the last five financial years is as follows:
1975–76 £39,000 1976–77 £ 5,700 1977–78 £26,800 1978–79 £45,000 1979–80 £13,500 This excludes the cost of internal research carried out by the commission's own staff and the costs of the special research unit on employment rehabilitation.