§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the estimated annual number of (a) disabled married women who will not qualify for the severe disablement allowance who would have qualified for the housewives' non-contributory invalidity benefit and (b) disabled men and single women who will not qualify for the severe disablement allowance and who would have qualified for non-contributory invalidity benefit.
§ Mr. NewtonOn(a) it is estimated that between 1,000 to 1,500 married women who would have qualified annually for housewives' non-contributory invalidity pension will not qualify for severe disablement allowance. Overall, however, it is estimated that there will be a net increase in the number of married women newly qualifying for severe disablement allowance each year compared with the number who would have qualified for housewives' non-contributory invalidity pension.
On (b) firm figures are not available although it is estimated that only a small proportion of men and single women who would have qualified annually for non-contributory invalidity pension will fail to qualified for severe disablement allowance.