§ Sir David Priceasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report the statistical assumptions which have led him to estimate that if the invalid care allowance were extended to married women it would cost an extra £85 million a year.
§ Mr. NewtonThe origin of the estimate is a sample survey of attendance allowance beneficiaries carried out in 1982, with relative proportions applied in line with the growth in the estimated number of attendance allowance beneficiaries since 1982. A take-up of 90 per cent. was assumed, and 95 per cent. confidence levels applied. £85 million was the mid-point of the resulting range of estimates.