§ Mr. Butterfillasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what is the total number of officially registered blind people; and what is the total number in each of the relevant age categories;
(2) what percentage of registered blind people is over official retirement age.
§ Mr. NewtonPrecise information about the percentage of registered blind people over official retirement age is not available centrally. As at 31 March 1982, the latest date for which information is available, the total number of registered blind people, by age-group in England, was as follows:
Age-groups Numbers Percentage to total 0–4 275 0.2 5–15 1,709 1.5 16–49 11,471 10.3 50–64 13,422 12.0 65–74 19,376 17.3 75+ 65,476 58.6 Total 111,729 100.0 Note:
Percentages do not add up to 100 due to rounding.
§ Mr. Butterfillasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what is the total annual cost of payments to registered blind persons of the additional supplement to supplementary benefit payments in each of the last five years;
(2) how many registered blind people have claimed supplementary benefit in each of the past five years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. NewtonThe information is not available in the form requested. the table shows the number of 513W supplementary benefit claimants receiving the £1.25 weekly addition for blindness at the time of the annual statistical inquiry from December 1978 to December 1982. The table also gives estimates of the total cost of that addition for the 12 months preceding each inquiry.
Date of Annual Statistical Inquiry Number of claimants receiving the £1.25 blindness addition Estimated cost of the addition in preceding 12 months (£ million) December 1978 39,000 2.5 December 1979 39,000 2.5 December 1980 32,000 2.1 December 1981 35,000 2.3 December 1982 41,000 2.7
§ Mr. Butterfillasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will estimate the total number of registered blind persons who receive no state assistance in any form.
§ Mr. NewtonI regret that the information on which to base an estimate is not available.
§ Mr. Butterfillasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will bring forward proposals to amend the Mobility Allowance Regulations 1975 (a) by extending the concept of immobility to cover severely impaired or restricted mobility arising from blindness and (b) by enabling people who are blind and cannot orient themselves in their environment to be eligible for mobility allowance; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NewtonWe have no plans to do so. However, some of the issues involved are also issues in the appeal to the House of Lords to which I refer in my answer today to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Healey (Mr. Michie) and we shall review the need for further action in the light of the appeal decision when we have it.
§ Mr. Butterfillasked the Secretary of State for Social Services for how long the additional allowance of £1.25 a week payable to a blind person in receipt of supplementary benefit has been unchanged; and what is the current value of the original allowance in real terms.
§ Mr. NewtonThe blindness addition was set at its present level of £1.5s (£1.25) in November 1969. Expressed in terms of September 1984 prices, the equivalent of £1.25 in November 1969 prices would be £6.17.
§ Mr. Butterfillasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report the general benefits and the social security and social assistance benefits available to blind persons in each of the European Economic Community countries; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NewtonThe main social security benefits for disabled people are not based on particular types of disability in any of the countries of the European Community. Details of these benefits are set out in "Tables of Social Benefit Systems in the Member States of the European Communities, Portugal and Spain (position at 1 January 1984)", a copy of which is in the Library.
I understand that the following benefits are available specifically for the blind:
Belgium: A means-tested social assistance benefit and costs of attendance of third parties if disability is assessed to be at least 30 per cent.
514WDenmark: An assistance allowance, in addition to the basic rate of pension, for invalidity pensioners who are blind or suffering from severe loss of sight.
Germany: A means-tested allowance.
France: A means-tested allowance payable to the blind and other severely disabled persons.
Ireland: A means-tested pension.
Italy: Means-tested allowances payable to the blind and partially sighted.
Luxembourg: A means-tested benefit under public assistance legislation.
United Kingdom: Additions to supplementary benefit where claimants themselves or their dependants are blind.
§ Mr. Butterfillasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) whether his Department will bring forward proposals for an amended system of benefits for all disabled people including the blind; and if he will make a statement;
(2) whether he will bring forward proposals to introduce a blindness allowance payable to all registered blind persons over the age of 16 years.
§ Mr. NewtonWe have already made useful progress towards our declared objective of a more coherent system of benefits for disabled people, for example by increasing the real value of mobility allowance and making it tax-free; by introducing the war pensioners mobility supplement; by ending the "invalidity trap"; and by legislating for severe disablement allowance to replace the present non-contributory invalidity pension.
In looking for further practical steps in this direction, we consider that it is generally more appropriate to concentrate on helping all disabled people with particular needs, rather than to single out particular types of disability. To help the development of policy in the longer term, we have commissioned from the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys a comprehensive survey to provide more up-to-date information about the numbers of disabled people, their circumstances and their needs.
§ Mr. Butterfillasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list those benefits, both general and specific, for which blind persons are eligible, together with the financial amounts.
§ Mr. NewtonBlind people are generally eligible for the full range of social security benefits on the same conditions as other claimants. The current rates of benefit are set out in Social Security Statistics 1983, a copy of which is in the Library. The extra amounts available to blind people under the supplementary benefit and housing benefit schemes are as follows:
Status of Blind Person and Assistance available through the Supplementary Benefit/Housing Benefit Scheme
Supplementary Benefit—Non-householders
An additional weekly requirement to benefit of £1.25 is awarded to every claimant who is blind or whose partner is blind or who has a dependent child aged 16 or over who is blind.
Single non-housholders aged 18 or over (and those aged 16–17 who have a dependent child) are entitled to a further addition to benefit to bring their scale rate up to the higher level of that of a householder: this is worth £5.35 for those in receipt of the ordinary rate of supplementary benefit and £6.85 for those on the long term rate (which includes pensioners).
Householder in receipt of both supplementary benefit and housing benefit
An additional weekly requirement to benefit of £1.25 is awarded to every claimant who is blind or whose partner is blind or who has a dependent child aged 16 or over who is blind.
515WWhere there is a non-dependent in the household no assumed contribution towards housing costs is deducted from the claimant's housing or supplementary benefit entitlement.
Housing benefit entitlement where the claimant is in receipt of housing benefit only
The basis of the housing benefit calculation is the needs allowance, which reflects average notional weekly living expenses. The needs allowance is increased by £4.95 where the claimant or his partner is blind and by £7.30 if both are blind.
The claimant's benefit is not reduced to take account of an assumed contribution towards housing costs from any nondependent member of the household.