asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will extend to pre-school children and others the exemptions from charges for repair of National Health Service glasses already enjoyed by most schoolchildren; and if he will make a statement.
Yes. I have today laid the National Health Service (General Ophthalmic Services) Amendment Regulations 1977, which, among other things, exempt all children under 16, or older and still attending school full-time, from most NHS charges for the repair and replacement of their spectacles. This extends the provision originally made by local education authorities for children attending maintained schools. The regulations also abolish the requirement that a patient must obtain a doctor's recommendation before he can have a sight test for the first time under the general ophthalmic services. These two changes, which apply to England and Wales, come into effect on 1st February 1978.