asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what proposals he has had from the National Assistance Board regarding a revision of the National Assistance (Determination of Need) Regulations to permit the special higher scale of assistance to blind persons to be paid in cases where the degree of partial sight is so low as to preclude any normal employment or activity.

None, Sir. The existing statutory provisions do not confine the higher scale to the totally blind.

But is the hon. Lady aware that there may be cases of real hardship? Does she not think that if a person is in receipt of National Assistance and is at the same time severely handicapped by lack of vision, this ought to be enough to enable him to qualify for the allowance as a blind person? Will she consider asking the National Assistance Board to regard the definition, which is crucial here, as relating to whether or not the handicapped person is able to follow his normal employment?

As I think the hon. Lady knows, the definition to which the National Assistance Board works is contained in Section 64 of the Act, which says: blind person means a person so blind as to be unable to perform any work for which eyesight is essential. Whether a person comes within the terms of that definition is a matter for the ophthalmologist who examines him. If he is partially handicapped, the Board can take that into account in its discretionary allowances.

But is it not the case that there can be instances where somebody might be able to perform some jobs for which sight is essential but still not be able to follow his normal course of employment? Does not the hon. Lady think that he should be treated generously by the State and regarded as a severely handicapped person because of lack of vision?

I think that he probably would. I hope that he would be treated generously by the National Assistance Board through its discretionary allowances. It certainly takes all these factors into account in determining these allowances.