asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was his estimate of the cost of a blindness allowance for all registered blind people which led to his conclusion, Official Report, 29 March, c. 32, that the resources necessary to provide such an allowance were not available.

An allowance of, say, £10 a week would cost about £65 million a year. An allowance at the same rate as mobility allowance—£16·50 a week—as is sometimes proposed, would cost over £100 million a year.