§ 3. Mr. Ashtonasked the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications whether he will now extend the concessionary television licence now applicable to pensioners living in purpose-built accommodation to cover also disabled relatives who are compelled to live with them, in the light of correspondence from the hon. Member for Bassetlaw.
§ Sir J. EdenThe special licence for old people living in old persons' homes was provided not as a welfare concession but to correct an anomaly in the licensing requirements for old people. Whilst it has not been Government policy to give cheap licences on welfare grounds I wish to look further into the details of the particular case which the hon. Gentleman has drawn to my attention.
§ Mr. AshtonMay I thank the Minister for that reply? Is he aware that if an old lady lives alone she may qualify for a cheap licence but that if she takes in her disabled son, both of them being on supplementary benefit—and there is nowhere else for him to go—she will not get such a licence? Will the right hon. Gentleman look at this not simply as it applies to my constituent in Carlton, near Worksop, but as it applies to other cases when old people look after disabled relatives?
§ Sir J. EdenI will look not just at this case in isolation but at the implications which it has. This is not a simple 484 matter and that is why I must plead for further time to go into details.