asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will extend the mobility allowance to the blind; and if he will make a statement.

Eligibility for mobility allowance is not linked to membership of particular diagnostic or disability groups, but to being unable or virtually unable to walk. I should emphasise, however, that blindness, combined with some other disability, is a factor which is taken into account in the overall judgment of a person's mobility and entitlement to the allowance. Severe financial constraints make is impossible for me to undertake to extend the medical criteria for the allowance at the present time.