§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the estimated saving to the new severe disablement allowance scheme of excluding until November 1985 people aged 35 to 49 years who are not already receiving non-contributory invalidity pension and housewives' non-contributory invalidity pension; and what is the estimate of the number of people likely to be affected.
§ Mr. NewtonAs with the phasing-in of mobility allowance over about three years from 1976, severe disablement allowance is being introduced in two stages in order to minimise administrative problems and in particular because of the constraints inevitably imposed by the need for medical examinations. Those in the 35 to 49 age group who are in receipt of existing non-contributory invalidity benefits on 28 November 1984 will of course be automatically transferred to immediate receipt of severe disablement allowance, but we estimate that about 12,000 new claimants who would otherwise have qualified then or during the following 12 months will have to wait for the relevant period, and that expenditure would have been about £10 million higher in the first full year had we been able to introduce the new benefit without phasing.
§ Mr. Wareingasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many additional staff are being employed by his Department to deal with the extra work involved in introducing the severe disablement allowance; what the full cost of this staffing is likely to be; how many officers have been transferred from other sections; and if he will make a statement.
322W
Number of deaths from cancer for England, Wessex Regional Health Authority, Southampton and South West Hampshire Health District and county districts in the vicinity of the Hythe Re-Chem plant, 1970 to 1983 Year Area 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 England ICD All cancers 140–208/9 M 59,548 59,479 60,613 61,000 61,961 61,806 63,367 63,234 63,938 64,349 64,734 65,069 64,950 66,606 F 50,488 50,820 51,402 52,007 52,801 53,358 54,792 54,531 55,190 56,112 56,812 57,271 57,742 58,253 All leukaemia 204–207/8 M 1,547 1,552 1,535 1,602 1,566 1,642 1,590 1,605 1,698 1,654 1,713 1,691 1,746 1,729 F 1,294 1,295 1,410 1,266 1,356 1,352 1,395 1,377 1,438 1,432 1,407 1,456 1,512 1,490 Myeloid leukaemia 205 M 669 715 724 801 801 853 817 835 856 876 876 886 876 909 F 644 683 784 708 762 760 844 783 849 886 821 801 833 873 Hodgkin's disease 201 M 485 485 456 406 415 420 377 378 376 123 317 297 290 273 F 327 282 276 307 269 267 226 235 249 123 218 215 183 179 Lymphosarcoma 200.1 M 429 406 421 419 450 412 387 359 363 296 247 196 161 140 F 340 337 362 371 341 352 335 332 291 264 195 167 144 122 Wessex RHA All cancers 140–208/9 M — 2,731 2,779 2,859 3,430 3,550 3,645 3,566 3,583 3,716 3,727 3,767 3,813 4,065 F — 2,391 2,396 2,475 2,909 2,974 3,095 3,102 3,202 3,217 3,313 3,408 3,407 3,589 All leukaemia 204–207/8 M — 67 66 81 97 99 102 94 106 98 106 97 95 112
§ Mr. Newton[pursuant to his reply, 20 November 1984, c. 125–26]: The work of introducing severe disablement allowance is estimated to be 146 man years at a cost of £1.024 million.
The gross additional continuing cost is 114 staff, but this is offset by a saving of 71 staff at North Fylde central office. None of this work will involve a transfer of staff between sections.