§ Mr. Douglasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish the statistics of the number of people being examined for spectacles for the latest available three years and give details of the percentage being examined free of charge by opticians, the percentage obtaining free spectacles and the range of charges.
§ Dr. VaughanUnder the NHS arrangements, all sight-tests are carried out free-of-charge and charges for dispensings are subject to the statutory scale of charges and the remission rules. No figures are available for the number of sight-tests and dispensings carried out privately.
The existing remission arrangements cover children under 16. those over 16 who are still at school and those on low incomes assessed broadly by supplementary benefit standards.
Set out below are the relevant statistics:
Number of sight tests year million 1978 7.85 1979 8.11 1980 8.32
Number of children receiving free glasses year children 1978 324,612 1979 358,394 1980 360,035
Number of cases where NHS charges were wholly or partly remitted year cases 1978 747,487 1979 711,838 1980 716,182
Gross Expenditure on the NHS in England at Constant Prices November 1979 prices Current expenditure Increase over previous year Capital expenditure Increase over previous year £ million per cent. £ million per cent. 1975–76 6,932 — 571 — 1976–77 7,030 1.4 554 –2.9 1977–78 7,222 2.7 433 –21.8 1978–79 7,381 2.2 443 2.2 1979–80 7,402 0.3 408 –7.8 1980–81* 7,576 2.3 435 6.6 *Provisional outturn.