§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) for each of the last five years, how much the Department has spent on maintaining electric-powered wheelchairs for (a) indoor use and (b) outdoor use; and what is the average cost for each type of electric-powered wheelchair;
(2) for each of the last five years, how many people have been issued with electric-powered indoor wheelchairs; how many of these have also been issued with an outdoor attendant-controlled electric wheelchair; and what is the cost of supplying indoor electric-powered wheelchairs;
(3) for each of the last five years (a) how much has been spent on the wheelchair services, (b) how many attendant-controlled electric powered wheelchairs have been (i) issued and (ii) bought as new by his Department and (c) what is the cost of providing attendant-controlled electric-powered wheelchairs;
(4) for each of the last five years how many people have applied for (a) an indoor electric-powered wheelchair and (b) an outdoor electric-powered wheelchair and had their application refused in each case;
(5) how many representations he has received on the need to provide occupant-controlled electric-powered wheelchairs that have either indoor and outdoor use or outdoor use only.
§ Mr. Newton[pursuant to his reply, 21 February 1985, c. 588.]: The following information relates to the provision of wheelchairs through artificial limb and appliance centres in England.
Annual expenditure on the wheelchair service, excluding service on-costs and not adjusted for inflation, was:
£ million 1979–80 13.42 1980–81 18.27 1981–82 18.28 1982–83 20.07 1983–84 21.90 Expenditure in 1983–84 costed on a commercial basis to include service on-costs was £32.25 million.
The following table summarises the information requested on electric-powered indoor wheelchairs:
79W
1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 Number issued† 3,709 3,732 4,015 4,166 4,849 Number bought as new 956 478 60 Nil Nil Total cost of purchases* (£ million) 0.48 0.24 0.03 Nil Nil Total cost of maintenance * (£ million) 0.48 0.58 0.59 0.74 0.91 Average cost of maintenance per wheelchair on issue* (£) 54.20 76.20 76.70 101.80 125.90 * Excludes service on-costs. Costs not adjusted for inflation. † Includes issues from stock. The full cost of supplying a wheelchair of a particular kind cannot at present be isolated.
Figures relating to the dual provision of electric indoor wheelchairs and electric attendant-controlled outdoor wheelchairs could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Figures relating to the number of people found ineligible for either type of powered wheelchair are not available.
We have received over 40 separate representations about the provision of occupant-controlled powered indoor/outdoor and/or powered outdoor wheelchairs, including a petition signed by over 7,000 people, in the last six months.