To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people who have been in receipt of attendance allowance at either (a) the higher rate or (b) the lower rate have had their attendance allowance reduced in each year since 1983.
The number of people receiving either the higher or lower rate of attendance allowance who were not awarded any further allowance at the renewal stage of their claims was as follows:
| Higher rate | Lower rate | Total | |
| 1983 | 127 | 467 | 594 |
| 1984 | 128 | 524 | 652 |
| 1985 | 132 | 515 | 647 |
Higher rate
| Lower rate
| Total
| |
| 1986 | 171 | 412 | 583 |
| 1987 | 82 | 227 | 309 |
| 1988 | 77 | 231 | 308 |
11989 | 41 | 141 | 182 |
1 To date. | |||
Information is not available about the number of people whose award at the renewal stage was reduced from the higher to the lower rate of attendance allowance.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on how many occasions the present general practitioner of an applicant for attendance allowance was present when their medical assessment for eligibility for the allowance was carried out in the last year.
All applicants for attendance allowance are medically examined, but information is not recorded about whether or not their personal general practitioners are present at the examination. Neither the applicants nor their personal general practitioners are present when the reports of the medical examinations are considered by the attendance allowance board or its delegated medical officers.