§ Mr. Pavittasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the most recent figures for the number of claims for free milk and vitamins for nursing mothers and children under school age together with the number for whom receipt is (a) on the grounds of supplementary benefit or family income supplement and (b) on other low income grounds.
§ Mrs. ChalkerFigures for numbers of claims are not available in such detail. The hon. Member may, however, find the following table of assistance. This gives some information on numbers of awards extant at a date in November or December 1980.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThe best information available to me indicates that in 1980 the number of "employers, self-employed and family workers"* in each of the countries of the European Community was as follows:
- Belgium—623,000
- Denmark—data not available (424,000 in 1977)
- France—3,622,000
- Germany—3,499,000
- Greece—1, 688,000
- Ireland—data not available (291,000 in 1977)
- Italy—5,867, 000
- Luxembourg—22,000
- Netherlands—514,000
- United Kingdom—1,886,000
Of these, all who are nationals of a Community country and are appropriately covered by a social security scheme will be able to benefit from the health care provisions of the newly extended Community regulations on social security. However, some are already covered by the Community regulations on social security now in force. For example, an unknown number of self-employed United Kingdom nationals are covered by virtue of having been employed persons at some previous time.
The extension of the regulations to the self-employed will come into effect on 1 July 1982.
*As defined for the purposes of the European statistical offices publication—Labour Force: Basic Statistics of the Community.