Disabled People (Hansard, 22 February 1999)

§ Mr. Meale

Amounts within the Department's budget for 1998–99 that can be attributed to spending on disabled people are as follows: 57W

(a) the Department's Mobility Unit is responsible for transport policy as it affects the mobility of disabled people and has a net running cost budget of £950,000 and a net programme budget of £477,000;
(b) there are some specific allocations within the Department's housing programmes as follows: (i) £60 million of disabled facilities grants to help disabled people adapt their homes to enable them to live more independently; (ii) £50,000 available through the housing research programme project "housing options for people with learning disabilities and mental health problems"; and (iii) around £17 million of the Housing Corporation's Approved Development Programme is being spent on disabled people. In addition the Housing Corporation's revenue funding programme for supported housing schemes includes provision for the disabled;
(c) about £4.6 million is available through the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme to households specifically on the basis of a disability benefit;
(d) the Department administers the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers' Compensation) Act 1979 with a budget of £8,269,000; and
(e) the Air and Environment Quality air pollution information service provides information on the levels of air pollution, a forecast of levels and advice on health at a cost of about £100,000 a year.

Many of the Department's other programmes are of benefit to disabled people, although it is not possible specifically to attribute such expenditure, or to specify how much it represents as a proportion of total departmental spending.

The Department spends approximately £45,000 a year on providing technical aids for its own central staff who are disabled and about another £9,000 for the disability access survey for its central buildings and other improvements.