asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many days at work were lost in the year ended May 1978 through sickness, which may be attributed to rheumatic and arthritic complaints in the United Kingdom as a whole and in Scotland alone.

[pursuant to her reply 2 July 1979, c. 496–97]: In the year ended May 1978—the latest period for which figures are available—the number of days certified incapacity lost through sickness attributable to rheumatic and arthritic complaints were as follows:

	United Kingdom (including Northern Ireland) (million)	Scotland (million)
Rheumatic complaints	5·7	0·7
Arthritic complaints	21·6	2·1
TOTAL	27·3	2·8

I regret that there was an error in the corresponding figures for May 1977 given in my reply to the hon. Member of 2 July 1979. The correct information relating to the United Kingdom was as follows:

	(million)
Rheumatic complaints	5·5
Arthritic complaints	19·7
TOTAL	25·2