§ Sir Brandon Rhys Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what his estimate is of the total number of disabled people in the United Kingdom; and if he will subdivide this total according to the degree of disability.
§ Mr. RossiI regret the information is not available in the form requested. I would, however, refer my hon. Friend to my reply to the hon. Member for Lewisham, West (Mr. Price) on 16 February—[Vol. 999, c. 35]—for the numbers of handicapped people on the general classes registers.
Registration with a local authority is not compulsory and it is probable that the registers understate the numbers of disabled people. In this connection I would refer my hon. Friend to the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys survey "Handicapped and Impaired in Great Britain" by Amelia Harris, published in 1971, a copy of which is in the Library of the House.