Written question asked by Donald Gorrie (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 23 June 1999, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 1 July 1999. It was answered by Hugh Bayley (Labour) on Thursday, 1 July 1999 on behalf of the Department of Social Security.

Dept of Social Security

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, if he will arrange for figures to be provided in future for the numbers of people who suffer from myalgic encephalomyelitis as a separate category when collecting statistics on benefits.

Answer: Mr. Gorrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will arrange for figures to be provided in future for the numbers of people who suffer from myalgic encephalomyelitis as a separate category when collecting statistics on benefits. [88594] Mr. Bayley: Although individual diagnosis codes are available, they are not shown in the quarterly publication. There are in the region of a thousand different codes, therefore only "group headings" are shown. There are no plans to include individual codes within the quarterly publication. The latest figures held, show that at 30 November 1998 there were 16,000 claimants of Incapacity Benefit, where the diagnosis was shown as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome. Myalgic Encephalomyelitis falls into the group Diseases of the Nervous System (G00-G99) category. Notes: 1. The figure is taken from a 5 per cent. scan of the benefit computer system, and excludes a small number of cases held clerically. 2. Diagnosis codes are taken from the International Classification of Diseases, tenth edition.

Secondary information