§ 2.56 p.m.
§ Baroness Lane-FoxMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government at what level it is proposed that the mobility allowance should be fixed next November; how this compares with the figure in May 1979; and how many people are now eligible to benefit from the allowance.
§ Lord Cullen of AshbourneMy Lords, as from November 1982, mobility allowance will rise to £18.30 a week, tax free, compared to its May 1979 level of £10 a week, subject to tax. Over 217,000 people now receive the allowance.
§ Baroness Lane-FoxMy Lords, is my noble friend the Minister aware that this really is a most welcome increase, and that freeing the allowance from tax will benefit very many disabled people who go out to work and have other taxable income? Is he further aware that in this previously deprived area the rise means that by November the mobility allowance will have been increased by over 80 per cent. under the present Government, though, sadly, deprivation remains for those debarred the scheme on grounds of age?
§ Lord Cullen of AshbourneMy Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for her comments about the allowance which has, I think, received particular help from the present Government.
§ Lord AveburyMy Lords, we are very grateful for the increases which the noble Lord has announced, but can he relate them to the increases in costs of motoring which have taken place over the period in question?— bearing in mind that the costs of motoring, such as petrol and licence fees, have gone up by far more than the cost of living generally.
§ Lord Cullen of AshbourneMy Lords, I understand that the transport and vehicle group component of the retail price index has risen by 42 per cent. since May 1979; the mobility allowance has increased by 65 per cent.
§ Baroness Masham of IltonMy Lords, is the Minister aware that those old age pensioners who are disabled do not receive the benefits of cheap travel on buses and trains which other old age pensioners receive?
§ Lord Cullen of AshbourneMy Lords, it is true that mobility allowance does not give a passport for free travel, but I am not sure that I quite see the drift of the noble Baroness's supplementary question.
§ Baroness Masham of IltonMy Lords, perhaps I can make it clearer by asking the noble Lord whether he is aware that old age pensioners do not receive the mobility allowance? If they have a disability they are also at a disadvantage compared with their peers—other old age pensioners who are not disabled—since they cannot receive the benefits of cheap travel on buses and trains which other old age pensioners have. Perhaps the noble Lord is not aware that I have received many letters from old age pensioners who have disabilities.
§ Lord Cullen of AshbourneI apologise, my Lords. The position is that when the last Administraton brought in mobility allowance it was on the basis of pension age as the upper limit—60 for women and 65 for men. Since then, gradually, the age limit for women has risen from 60 to 65, and both sexes who become eligible for the allowance before the age of 65 can continue to be eligible for a further 10 years, up to the age of 75. But at this stage it is not possible to scrub the limit altogether, because the cost of that would be £400 million pounds.
§ Baroness JegerMy Lords, may I support the noble Baroness, Lady Masham of Ilton? I do so in no party sense, because these rules have been accepted by successive Governments. I find that there is an increasing sense of unfairness among people who receive the mobility allowance; they fear that when they reach pension age it will be taken away. If the noble Lord will confirm that it will not be taken away, so that the only people who will be deprived by the rule will be those who apply for it after pension age, that would be of interest to many people in this House.
§ Lord Cullen of AshbourneMy Lords, the noble Baroness has put the case absolutely correctly. Anyone who qualifies for and receives the allowance before the age of 65 will continue to receive it until the age of 75.
§ The Earl of OnslowMy Lords, is there not something rather unfair in a situation in which a person who breaks his back in a traffic accident when aged 64 years can go on receiving the allowance up to age 75, whereas someone who sustains a broken back in a traffic accident at age 651 receives nothing whatsoever? There seems to be no equity in that particular proposition.
§ Lord Cullen of AshbourneMy Lords, what the noble Earl says is perfectly true.
§ Lord LeatherlandMy Lords, as one who many years ago passed the age of 75, may I ask the noble Lord whether it is unfair that the allowance should stop at age 75?
§ Lord Cullen of AshbourneMy Lords, at the moment those who are eligible will continue to receive the allowance until the age of 75. As I understand it, it will be seven or eight years from today that the first of those people will become 75. Perhaps between now and seven or eight years hence it might prove possible to whichever Government are in power to extend the limit from age 75 to, say, age 76.
§ Lord LeatherlandMy Lords, does it not appear to the Government at present in power that this injustice should be remedied?
§ Lord Cullen of AshbourneNot at the moment, my Lords?