§ Mr. Frank Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will provide such information on the average number of children for whom child additions were paid in respect of (a) each of the short-term additional insurance benefits and (b) each of the long-term national insurance benefits for as many years as can be given without incurring disproportionate costs.
§ Dr. BoysonThe following table shows the number of child additions for each benefit from 1970 at a point in time for each year.
considering whether to introduce such a system nationally we should wish to take account of practical experience from the computer register of donors now being established in the north-west by the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. We have recently approved a departmental contribution of £63,000 to the cost of this project, which is still at a fairly early stage of development. The case for replacing the donor card scheme will also turn in part on the number of transplants that can be achieved under the present arrangements. I am glad to say that this has increased substantially since the launch of our current publicity campaign. Between 13 February and 19 March 173 kidney transplants were performed, compared with 103 in the equivalent period last year. We shall be monitoring the figures closely to see whether this increase is maintained.