asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the number of disabled citizens who have claimed supplementary benefit in the west midlands region in each single year since 1979 and the number of home help service personnel who have been employed in that region in each single year during the same period.

[pursuant to his reply, 21 June 1985, c. 257]: The figures which we collect show the total number of people claiming supplementary benefit who are unable to work through incapacity; no distinction is made between those who are sick and those who are disabled.The numbers of sick and disabled people claiming supplementary benefit in the West Midlands region in May 1979 and in each succeeding year were:

	Number
1979	12,073
1980	11,814
1981	12,923
1982	14,511
1983	*13,627
1984	15,337
1985	18,304
* Because of industrial action in the Department at that time this figure is not wholly reliable.

The number of home help service staff employed by social services departments in the West Midlands region on 30 September 1983 was 5,586·3 (whole-time equivalents). Information for previous years is given in the Department's annual publication entitled "Staff of Local Authority Social Services Departments in England" — copies of which are in the Library.