HC Deb 27 May 1968 vol 765 cc1210-1
23. Mr. Astor

asked the Minister of Social Security if she will take steps to relax the earnings rule in respect of married women whose husbands are disabled and in receipt of National Insurance benefit owing to their incapacity to work.

Mr. Loughlin

My right hon. Friend shares the hon. Gentleman's concern about the position of these families. This is one aspect of the wider question of the provision to be made for dependency benefits in National Insurance, which she is at present studying.

Mr. Astor

Would the hon. Gentleman agree that it is often desirable, if not essential, in this type of family for the wife of a disabled husband to augment the family income? Would he therefore consider either raising the limit of £2 16s., which the husband's benefit curtails, or have a graduated scale so that if the wife earns more than £2 16s. the family retains some of the benefit.

Mr. Loughlin

I agree that that would help some families in these circumstances. However, I am not so sure that it would be right to give additional assistance— for that is what we would be giving— to such families where the wife is able to go out to work. [HON. MEMBERS: "Why not?"] It would mean that wives who, for various reasons, are not able to go out to work, would not get any advantage at all. We want to deal with the subject so that equitable assistance is given.

Mr. Molloy

When will my hon. Friend or my right hon. Friend be in a position to make a statement about the plight of mothers and housewives who are themselves disabled and who for this reason cannot go out to work? When will a statement be made about some consideration being given to a type of pension for these people, perhaps along the lines outlined in the evidence sent to him by the Disabled Incomes Group?

Mr. Loughlin

My hon. Friend can rest assured that we are very concerned about the chronic sick and, in particular, about disabled housewives. We will have the information upon the completion of the study as quickly as possible and give the House the fullest information at the earliest possible moment.

Mr. Ridsdale

For how long has the Minister been studying this matter? How much would it cost to implement this proposal? Is he aware that this matter has been under consideration for some time and that I received an Answer about two months ago saying that the Minister was studying it?

Mr. Loughlin

We cannot give an estimate or cost the proposal until we know precisely what we are going to do. We have been studying this for two years. It is not a new problem and if half the studies conducted by previous Conservative Administrations had gone into this matter, we might now have been in a position to solve the problem.