asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will introduce legislation to provide an appeal system for persons refused attendance allowance by the Attendance Allowance Board, similar to that set up for people refused mobility allowance; and if he will make a statement.

No. The members of the Attendance Allowance Board, all of whom are eminent in their respective fields, have been selected and appointed because their specialist knowledge and expertise is of particular relevance, both individually and collectively, in assessing those needs of the disabled which relate to the allowance. It is not possible in such circumstances to appoint a more senior body to deal with appeals against the Board's interpretation of the medical facts. The Board has, however, very wide powers of review of its own decisions and of those, the great majority, given by delegates on its behalf.

								First Appointed
Dr. D. L. Davies (Chairman), M.A., D.M., F.R.C.P., D.P.M.						…	…	October 1970 (Apindoted Chairman October 1976)
Miss E. Fanshawe, Assistant Director of the Disabled Living Foundation								February 1978
Dr. K. C. Hutchin, T.D., M.D., M.R.C.G.P				…	…	…	…	December 1974
Miss A. Julia, A.B.A.S.W	…	…	…	…	…	…	…	March 1972
Professor J. Marshall, M.D., F.R.C.P. Ed., F.R.C.P. Lond., D.P.M.							…	October 1978
Dr. S. Mattingly, T.D., F.R.C.P., D.Phys. Med				…	…	…	…	January 1978
Dr. A. P. Norman, M.B.E., M.D., F.R.C.P., D.C.H					…	…	…	January 1978
Dr. Cicely Saunders, O.B.E., M.A., M.B., B.S. London, F.R.C.P., Hon. D.S.Sc. Yale								October 1970
Dr. Ronald Savidge, M.D., F.R.C.P.			…	…	…	…	…	November 1976

The medical members of the board have been appointed because each has extensive practical experience in one or more of the fields of medicine covering those disablements from which the great majority of attendance allowance claimants suffer—such as psychiatry, geriatrics, paediatrics, neurology, physical medicine and rehabilitation.Of the two non-medical members, one is assistant director of the Disabled Living Foundation, the other is assistant director of social services at Kingston-upon-Thames and has special experience in work for mentally handicapped children.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he is satisfied with the operations of the Attendance Allowance Board; and if he will make a statement.

I am satisfied that the Attendance Allowance Board acts both impartially and with compassion in a difficult field. Some 180,000 people each year are examined and their attendance needs determined. Three-quarters of those who make initial claims and a higher proportion of those who make renewal claims are successful, as are more than half of those who seek reviews. I am afraid that, inevitably among such large numbers, there are some where the time to deal with the claim is longer than it should be. The board is doing all that it can to eliminate such delays.

The members of the Attendance Allowance Board, their qualifications and dates of first appointment are as follows: