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Mr. Ennis
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate how many pensioners in the Barnsley East and Mexborough constituency are eligible for free eye checks. [73374]
Mr. Denham
We are unable to make meaningful estimates for such a small area. Nationally, we estimate that about 21 million people are eligible for free National Health Service sight tests and, from 1 April 1999, some 6 to 7 million more people aged 60 and over will become eligible. The number of people aged 60 or over in 1997 in the North and Yorkshire Regional area was 1,321,000.