On this section I wish to make one brief point regarding disability benefit. In the year ended 31 March 1969 about 21 per cent, or one in five, of the workforce claimed disability benefit; yet in the year ended 31 December 1978 35 per cent, or almost two in five, of the workforce claimed disability benefit. As we are supposed to have had an improvement in the general health of the community in the decade between 1969 and 1979, it is very odd that the number of people claiming disability benefit should have almost doubled. I would like to ask the Minister if he believes this very dramatic increase from 21 per cent to 35 per cent is a result of a worsening in health of the workforce or of it becoming easier for people to get doctors' certificates because there are not officers investigating the situation. Or is it simply a result of a change in the regulations or the general desirability for people to want to claim the benefits?
On the face of it a change of that nature is very hard to explain. The big jump took place between 1975 and 1976. In 1975 only 24 per cent of the workforce claimed disability benefit. Suddenly in 1976 that jumped to 32 per cent. It remained at 32 per cent in 1977 but in 1978 it jumped to 35 per cent. We may well have a situation where an even larger proportion will be claiming disability benefits next year. The Minister should investigate this. If more people are getting sick at work, as these figures tend to suggest, there is something radically wrong. Either our health programmes are not working, the disability benefit scheme is not working or else in the 1969 period people were not claiming the benefits to which they were entitled, although I have some doubt about that.
