§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give details of the postal surveys in 1980 and 1982 of recipients of attendance allowance, estimating the cost of extending invalid care allowance to married women including the numbers in the sample, the percentage of total recipients, the criteria for selection and the estimated cost of extending invalid care allowance to married women; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RossiThe only postal survey took place in September 1982, the 1980 survey being based on an analysis of claims to attendance allowance. In the postal survey some 2,100 enquiry forms were issued and 1,600 effective responses received, about 0.5 per cent. of all recipients of attendance allowance. The cases used were selected on the basis of a statistically approved random sample. The net annual cost of extending invalid care allowance to all married women is now estimated, on the basis of this survey, to be of the order of £60 million.