§ Ms. Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list those initiatives of his Department which have been of benefit to women, since 1979, the cost or estimated cost of these initiatives, and the proportion of the total budget of his Department this represents.
§ Mrs. CurrieOur policies on health, personal social services and social security are designed to benefit both men and women. Spending on the National Health Service in England alone has increased by nearly 26 per cent. since 1978–79 in real terms. There are more doctors and nurses494W in hospitals and the community. Hospitals are dealing with many more in-patient cases, out-patient cases and day cases than ever before.
There have been many specific initiatives of benefit particularly to women. The maternity services advisory committee, established in 1981, produced three reports on aspects of maternity care, which have been distributed widely within the Health Service and to interested professional and lay organisations. The committee's advice is taken into account when authorities plan. monitor and review their maternity services. The Asian mother and baby project was launched in 1984 and involved the appointment of link workers to overcome linguistic and cultural barriers and so improve antenatal care for women from the Indian sub-continent.
Health authorities have been required to install computerised call and recall schemes, so that women can receive personal invitations to attend for cervical smear tests, by April 1988 at the latest; and to ensure that laboratories avoid backlogs of cervical smears, which should not regularly exceed one month's work. In 1985 Professor Sir Patrick Forrest was invited to consider the case for introducing breast cancer screening by mammography. Professor Forrest's final report has been received and sent for printing. It will be published and the Government will announce their response shortly.
Particular attention has been paid to women smokers. In 1985 £½million was made available to the Health Education Council for a television campaign to discourage smoking among women. The HEC has also recently produced a new booklet on women and smoking. The latest voluntary agreement on tobacco advertising and promotion prohibits cigarette advertising in magazines where a third or more of the readers are young w omen, and one of the six new health warnings draws attention to the damage smoking during pregnancy can do to an unborn baby. Although there is considerable work still to be done, smoking amongst women has fallen from 37 per cent. in 1978 to 32 per cent. in 1984.
The Health Education Council, which is largely funded by Government, produces a range of publications aimed specifically at women. The Pregnancy Book, first published in 1984, received a particularly warm welcome. The Government expect that the new health education authority will continue and develop this work.
In addition, the Department provides funds for a number of voluntary organisations which focus particularly on the needs of women, including the Women's National Cancer Control Campaign and Women's Health Concern. Other organisations which receive departmental support, such as the Association of Carers, will also benefit many women. In October 1986 I was given special responsibility for women's health matters. In the social security field there have also been many developments of specific benefit to women. Since November 1983, there has been equal treatment for women in claiming supplementary benefit and family income supplement. Since September 1985 there has been equal treatment between men and women in virtually all aspects of child dependency and adult dependency increases payable with benefits to those below pension age.
The 1987 Hospital In-Patients Amendment Regulations provide for the equal treatment of women receiving benefits in hospital.
From April 1987 maternity allowance and maternity pay will be combined to become statutory maternity pay 495W and will be paid by the employer. Women who do not qualify for SMP may, however, still receive maternity allowance under new conditions designed to target help more precisely to those with recent work records. SMP will also be available in addition to national insurance widow's benefits, and to any women who pay the married woman's reduced rate national insurance contribution which does not at present bring entitlement to maternity allowance. These new arrangements give pregnant women a greater choice about when to give up work without affecting benefit entitlement.
The Social Security Act 1986 made invalid care allowance payable to married women on the same basis as to single women and men. In November 1984, the severe 496W disablement allowance was introduced to replace noncontributory invalidity pension and housewives' noncontributory invalidity pension. SDA is available to men and women regardless of marital status and therefore does away with the need for the household duties test.
The residual effects of the married woman's half test were abolished from December 1984, enabling over 30,000 women to receive a pension for the first time. These initiatives are only a small proportion of those which have been of benefit to women. It would not be possible to list them all in detail, or to calculate their cost, either as a single figure or as a proportion of the Department's total budget.