§ Mr. Home RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give an estimate of the number of people who would qualify for invalid care allowance or severe disablement allowance but who have not claimed those benefits in(a) Great Britain, (b) Scotland and (c) Lothian region.
§ Mr. ScottI regret that it is not possible to provide this information. The OPCS surveys of disabled people have collected data about the incidence of different types and degrees of disability and also about receipt of benefits. They do not, however, provide enough information about 785W the circumstances of carers to identify with sufficient certainty the total number who would qualify for invalid care allowance if they made a claim. It should also be remembered that there has been a tenfold increase in the number of recipients of the allowance since the survey data were collected in 1985.
The main difficulty with severe disablement allowance is in identifying clearly the number who would satisfy the primary qualifying condition of being incapable of work.