§ Mr. Barry JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is his estimate of the number of people in Wales with disabilities broken down by disability group. [60547]
Mr. Jon Owen JonesThe number of people on local authority disability registers in Wales at 31 March 1998 is shown, by register category in the Registers of people with physical and sensory disabilities:
Disability registers Number Deaf with speech 1,497 Deaf without speech 955 Hard of hearing 5,658 Blind 8,958 Partially sighted 8,681 General classes1 72,839 Total for registers of people with physical and sensory disabilities 98,588 Registers of people with learning disabilities 11,771 Total of all people on disability 110,359 Rate per 1,000 population—all people on disability registers 37.7 1 Includes 1997 data for 2 authorities The Register of physically and sensorily disabled persons includes people registered under Section 29 of the National Assistance Act 1948. The Register of persons with learning disabilities is based on people identified and known to local authorities. The numbers of these registers are believed to understate the total number of people with disabilities as some people choose not to be included.
The most recent comprehensive sample survey was the OPCS survey of disability in Great Britain, published in 1988, which showed that the estimated prevalence of disability in Wales, per thousand population, was 170 for people aged 16 or over and 31 for children. Applying these rates to the 1997 population of Wales would give an estimated number of 414,000 people with disabilities (an overall rate of 141 per thousand population).