asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many of the 6,000 claims from married women for invalid care allowance have been dealt with to date; and at what rate he expects to dispose of this balance.

At 24 April 1987, 5,871 claims for invalid care allowance had been received from married women, of which 2,234 were decided by that date. In view of the very high take-up of this backdated benefit in Northern Ireland, arrangements are being made to improve substantially the present clearance rate and I would expect the present backlog to be cleared by the autumn.