§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how much the Government have spent in each of 758W the last five years on the prevention of disability in (a) the United Kingdom and (b) developing countries; and in each case what are the projects being supported.
§ Mr. Newton[pursuant to his reply, 24 July 1986]. The Government fully recognise the importance of preventing disability wherever possible, and this concern is reflected in a wide range of programmes in the United Kingdom, such as vaccination and immunisation, screening for potentially disabling conditions, health education, accident prevention, genetic counselling services and medical research. It is not, however, possible to distinguish within those programmes the elements specifically directed to the prevention of disability or their cost.
So far as the developing countries are concerned, I understand that the health aid programme of the Overseas Development Administration is directed towards improving the availability of basic health services in developing countries and therefore helps in the prevention of disability. Since, however, there are no sectoral allocations within the overseas aid programme it is similarly not possible to identify a specific cost for the disability prevention element.