§ Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services in the light of the considerable number of very ill applicants for constant attendance allowance whose condition deteriorates rapidly, if he will make four months rather than six months the period for eligibility.
§ Mr. RossiIn this question, and his other questions today, I assume that the hon. Member refers to attendance allowance under the general scheme and not to constant attendance allowance under the war pensions and industrial injuries schemes.
We have no plans to reduce the qualifying period. We think that a need for attendance for six months remains the appropriate criterion for eligibility for the reasons given to the hon. Member by my right hon. Friend the Member for Daventry (Mr. Prentice) on 27 March 1980—[Vol. 981, c. 650.]
§ Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he is satisfied with the percentage take-up by eligible and deserving patients of the constant attendance allowance in the light of the disproportionately greater increase in the number of people over the age of 80 years.
§ Mr. RossiI am aware of various small-scale local studies which suggest some shortfall in take-up in those areas, but there are no figures to suggest a general shortfall. However, we are continually striving to increase take-up by improving our publicity and it is encouraging that successful initial claims to attendance allowance in 1980 from those aged over 80 were 13 per cent. higher than in 1979.
§ Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what percentage of initial claims were successful over the past six months at (a) the higher rate and (b) the lower rate of attendance allowance in each of the eight counties in Wales.
§ Mr. RossiI regret that figures are not available for individual counties, but for Wales as a whole 57.7 per cent. of initial claims were successful in the first six months of 1981; 26.1 per cent. were awarded at the higher rate and 31.6 per cent. at the lower rate.
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§ Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many cases of applications for constant attendance allowance have been referred in the past year in Wales to the Social Security Commissioner; and how many of these were successful.
§ Mr. RossiThere were 11 appeals to the Social Security Commissioner in 1980, of which five were successful.