§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many registered blind people are unemployed in the United Kingdom; and how many of these have exhausted their entitlement to unemployment benefit and are ineligible for the long-term supplementary benefit rates.
§ Mrs. ChalkerInformation is not available in the form requested. In particular, there is no information on the number of registered blind people who are unemployed in the United Kingdom. However, in November 1979, about 1,000 people in receipt of supplementary allowance only, and assessed on the blind scale rates, were registered as unemployed, and would not, therefore, qualify for the long-term scale rate. These would not necessarily all be blind people. Claimants could have been assessed on the blind scale rate either on account of their own blindness, or because their spouse was blind.