asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many registered disabled persons are living in the borough of Southwark;(2) what information he has as to the proportion of disabled people who are house-bound in the London borough of Southwark;(3) what information he has as to how many people with disabilities who live in the London borough of Southwark are of working age.

The information available centrally relates to the numbers of disabled persons by age registered with Southwark social services department as being blind, partially sighted, deaf, hard of hearing or physically handicapped. This information does not distinguish those who are house-bound. This information is not a reliable guide to the numbers of disabled persons as registration is voluntary and the registers may lag in reflecting migration or deaths. People with multiple handicaps may also be on more than one register. The latest available data are given in the table.