§ Mr. BradleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of the proportion of the total social security budget which will be spent on the invalid care allowance and the carer premium in 1992–93.
§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make it his policy that take-up campaign328W information for carers' benefits should be available in (a) the Welsh language, (b) languages of ethnic minority communities within the United Kingdom and (c) Braille.
§ Mr. ScottThe publicity of carers' benefits is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member and a copy will be placed in the Library.
Letter from Michael Bichard to Mr. Dafydd Wigley, dated 17 February 1993:
As Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency, it is my responsibility to answer questions about relevant operational matters. I am therefore replying to the points raised in your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security regarding the availability of publicity information on carer's benefits in (a) the Welsh language, (b) languages of the ethnic minority communities within the United Kingdom and (c) in Braille.The Benefits Agency currently provides publicity information on the main benefit for carers, Invalid Care Allowance (ICA), in eleven ethnic languages—Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi, Somali, Turkish, Urdu and Vietnamese. This information is also available in the Welsh language and in Braille.Although there are no plans at present for the main carers leaflet FB31 "Caring for someone?" to be translated into the other languages listed above, there will be an April 1993 edition in Welsh. The leaflet is also being considered for translation into Braille from April 1993 when a new edition of the leaflet is published.I hope you find this reply helpful. A copy of this letter will appear in the Official Report. A copy will also be placed in the Library.