Category: 1983-1987 Parliament

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Blind-Deaf Persons on 12th December 1986.

Mrs. Renée Short Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many blind-deaf children are born each year; how many schools in England and Wales can at present offer suitable education for blind-deaf children either on a day or boarding basis; and what support for families is available when a deaf-blind child is living at home;
(2) what special training is available for teachers and carers, respectively, working with deaf-blind children; and what proposals he has to make such provision freely available for all those who need it;
(3) what training is available at present for young people who are deaf-blind to enable them to develop their skills; and if he will list the training centres at present available with the number of places in each;
(4) if he will make sufficient resources available to ensure that no blind-deaf person will have to enter a mental handicap hospital if his family can no longer care for him at home.

Mr. Major Statistics are not available in the form requested but there is a copy in the Library of the Department’s publication “Registered Blind and Partially Sighted Persons at 31 March 1982 (England).” This contains information, by age band, on people registered blind with additional handicap, including hearing impairment, but the figures are regarded as under-estimates.

The Department has made it clear in guidance issued to health and local authorities, which are the main statutory providers of services for disabled people, that services for the most vulnerable groups in the community, including sensorily impaired people, should have priority. It is for individual health and local authorities to determine local priorities in the light of their statutory responsibilities and local circumstances. The Department does not routinely collect specific information about resources and facilities provided for particular client groups.

The role of voluntary organisations, such as SENSE, with their family resource centres and training centre for deaf-blind young adults, is of particular importance. Last year the Department gave grants totalling £30,000 towards voluntary activities in this field and further applications are under consideration.

Education and teacher training are matters for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Severe Weather Payments on 12th December 1986.

Mr. Frank Field Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will update the table on page 4 of the proposals for regulations to provide a new scheme of supplementary benefit for exceptionally severe weather payments (CM 18) in the light of the decision by his Department to re-locate a number of weather stations.

Mr. Major Three changes have been made to the table. Tummel bridge and Cranwell stations have been deleted, and a new station (Kirkwall) has been added. The number of years since 1979 when the mean weekly temperature recorded at the Kirkwall station reached or was lower than minus 1.5 deg Celsius is nil.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Mr & Mrs J Hemborough on 12th December 1986.

Mr. Wigley Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services on what date the case of Mr. and Mrs. J. Hemborough was referred to him by his Department’s office; on what date a decision was made on this case; and if he will make a statement on the Government’s position following the supplementary benefit commissioner’s decision R(SB) 21/85 concerning the restriction of interest payments to claimants who have remortgaged their homes.

Mr. Major I shall write to the hon. Member.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Blind People on 12th December 1986.

Mr. Carter-Jones Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what bodies he has consulted in his Department’s review of form BD8 for blind people;
(2) what progress has been made in the review of form BD8;
(3) when the review of form BD8 began; and when he expects to be able to announce conclusions;
(4) what representations and recommendations he has received from the Royal National Institute for the Blind about the review of the form BD8.

Mr. Major In August 1983 we issued a consultation document to the relevant statutory, professional and voluntary bodies, including the Royal National Institute for the Blind, which have since pressed for a decision. Work is proceeding within the Department and we will announce a decision as soon as possible. The full list of organisations consulted is:

Association for the Education and Welfare of the Visually Handicapped
Association of County Councils
Association of Directors of Social Services
Association of District Medical Officers
Association of Metropolitan Authorities
Association of Nurse Administrators
Association of Optical Practitioners
British Association of Social Workers
British College of Ophthalmic Opticians
British Medical Association, General Medical Services Committee
British Medical Association, Ophthalmic Group Committee
British Paediatrics Association
Community Medicine Consultative Committee
Disabled Living Foundation
Faculty of Ophthalmologists
Health Visitors Association
Hospital for Sick Children Special Health Authority
Joint Consultants Committee
London Boroughs Association
Medical Research Council
Moorfields Eye Hospital Special Health Authority
National Association of Orientation and Mobility Instructors
National Association of Technical Officers for the Blind
National Federation of the Blind
National League of the Blind and Disabled
North Regional Association for the Blind
Office of Population Censuses and Surveys
Partially Sighted Society
Regional Health Authorities
Residential Care Association
Royal College of General Practitioners
Royal College of Nursing
Royal National Institute for the Blind
Society of Nurse Advisers (Child Health)
Southern and Western Regional Association for the Blind
Visual Impairment Association

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Sick Pay on 12th December 1986.

Mr. Clay Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will estimate (a) the gross and (b) the net cost of paying statutory sick pay at 100 per cent. of earnings for (i) six weeks and (ii) three months.

Mr. Major The gross costs requested are estimated as (i) £2.5 billion and (ii) £2.75 billion. On each of these amounts employees would pay approximately £1 billion in income tax and national insurance contributions (NICs). However, an unknown proportion of this revenue would replace tax and NIC already payable on occupational sick pay schemes. It is therefore not possible to calculate the extra revenue with sufficient reliability to produce worthwhile estimates of net cost. The estimated cost of SSP in 1986-87 is £688 million.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on the RCP Report on 12th December 1986.

Mrs. Renée Short Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what response he has sent to the Royal College of Physicians’ report to him on physical disability in 1986; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Major My right hon. Friend did not commission the report and has not been invited formally to respond to it. We nevertheless welcome the report, which will make an important contribution to the discussion of how services for disabled people can be better co-ordinated and integrated. Officials of the Department have had informal discussions with the report’s authors, and we are now considering how best to develop the ideas which it has put forward.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on the Board and Lodging Allowance on 12th December 1986.

Mr. Conlan Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people in Gateshead, living as board and lodgers, have had their supplementary benefits reduced under the board and lodging supplementary regulations since the passage of these regulations.

Mr. Major The Department’s local offices do not keep separate statistics on the number of people living in board and lodging, nor do they identify those who have had their supplementary benefit reduced under the Supplementary Benefit (Requirements and Resources) Miscellaneous Provisions Regulations 1985.

This information is not therefore readily available and could be obtained only by a special exercise which would be disproportionately costly.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on the Maternity Grant on 12th December 1986.

Ms. Richardson Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give the precise sum to be paid to mothers eligible for the means-tested maternity grant to be introduced on 6 April 1987; and if he will give details of the information published by his Department which informs women about this new benefit and how to claim.

Mr. Major I expect to make an announcement shortly.

Mr. Clay Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will estimate the net annual cost of increasing the maternity grant to £165.

Mr. Major The gross annual cost of increasing maternity grant to £165 would be about £95 million. There would be a consequent saving on supplementary benefit expenditure for single payments for maternity needs. In 1984, the latest year for which records are available, these payments amounted to nearly £13 million.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Invalid Care Allowance on 17th December 1986.

Mr. Anderson Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the average waiting time from the date of application for invalid care allowance; how many claimants are still waiting to be dealt with; and what steps he is taking to reduce this period.

Mr. Major As at 5 December, the latest date for which information is available, about 75,000 claims are awaiting decision. Most of these claims are held up by the need to make inquiries of a variety of sources, including the claimants themselves, to obtain further information. The average time taken to process a claim is currently 22.5 weeks. We are taking all practical steps to reduce this period.