§ 7. Mr. WareingTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has, in the light of the findings of the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys' surveys, to increase the allocation of resources to disabled people.
§ Mr. ScottWe have already provided for an increase in spending on the sick and disabled in real terms of £1.9 billion, at 1988–89 prices, over the three years to 1991–92. This is a real increase in expenditure of more than 20 per cent. We shall consider the need for further expenditure following our assessment of all the results of the OPCS surveys.
§ Mr. WareingIs not the Minister citing increases which are due to the greater take-up of benefits introduced by my right hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Wythenshawe (Mr. Morris)? Is he not truly concerned about the abject poverty of many disabled people—the 4.6 million disabled adults who subsist on an average income of £65 a week? Is it not about time that, instead of posing as a Minister for the disabled, the right hon. Gentleman showed some real concern? Now that the OPCS surveys are out of the way and we have them before us, I hope that we shall not have to wait another 18 months—as we did for the Griffiths report—before the Government take action.
§ Mr. ScottAs I said in answer to an earlier question, the Government have no reason to be ashamed of their record in responding to the needs of disabled people. I hope that the hon. Gentleman himself will be glad that the take-up of attendance allowance and mobility allowance has increased so substantially under the present Government. The same number of people were there when Labour was in office, but fewer took up the benefit.
§ Mr. CormackIs my right hon. Friend aware that a small, tragic and diminishing group of disabled people desperately need help now? I refer to the haemophiliac AIDS victims. Will my right hon. Friend please do something specific for such people who really do constitute a special case and who are dying almost daily?
§ Mr. ScottObviously, we are considering the needs of all disabled people. Let me, however, point out to my hon. Friend—who, I know, takes the concerns of this group very seriously—that substantial sums are still available from the money that was provided for the Macfarlane Trust. In the short term, that money is available to help those people to meet their needs, and I hope that my hon. Friend and other hon. Members—including the hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field)—will encourage them to avail themselves of that opportunity.
§ Mr. AshleyAlthough I agree that there is no reason to be ashamed of the increased number of claimants, does the Minister agree that there is reason to be ashamed of the fact that most disabled people have experienced no significant increase in their income, despite the Government's boasts about increased prosperity in Britain?
§ Mr. ScottOf the £3.5 billion extra in real terms that the Government are spending on disability benefits, some £500 million is due to the increase in the value of benefits, and the rest to take-up. That take-up, however, is meeting real need. Of course we shall address all those points when we review and reach conclusions about the OPCS reports.
§ Mr. John MarshallWill my right hon. Friend confirm that surveys have shown that in Scotland poorer people, such as those mentioned in this question, pay less under the community charge system than they did under the discredited rating system?