Independent Living Fund: Successors (Hansard, 31 March 1993)

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Social Security (Lord Henley)
My Lords, the Independent Living (Extension) Fund and the Independent Living (1993) Fund have now been set up and will begin operating tomorrow. Arrangements have been made to ensure that the extension fund can continue making payments to the clients of the former ILF without interruption.

§ Lord Ashley of Stoke
My Lords, does the Minister recall that last April there was absolute chaos with the introduction of the disability living allowance despite assurances from Ministers that there would be a transition without interruptions? Is he aware of the fear and anxiety felt by many disabled people about the further chaos that will follow the introduction of the new Independent Living Fund? Can the Minister give the House a categorical assurance that emergency payments will be made where any problems arise, especially as those new independent funds are to be introduced tomorrow, 1st April?

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, I accept that there were some problems with the introduction of the disability living allowance. Both I and my right honourable friend the Minister of State have apologised for the fact that the service was not adequate. As regards the introduction of the new extension funds, as I said, we hope that there will be no delays in payments for those who are at present receiving payments from the ILF and who will move on to the extension fund. As regards the new 1993 fund, that is really a matter for the trustees, but I am sure that they will bear in mind the noble Lord's words. I am sure that they will be able to give as good a service as was given by the ILF in the past.

§ Baroness Hollis of Heigham
My Lords, like my noble friend Lord Ashley I have never known such chaos as in the arrangements for introducing the successor funds to the ILF. Perhaps I may ask the Minister a couple of questions about the trustees. Is it not the case that seven new trustees are due to take over responsibility for 22,000 severely disabled people tomorrow? Is it not the case that as of last week only 888 two of those seven trustees had been appointed to look after the successor funds? Is it also not the case that none of the existing ILF trustees is to be appointed to the successor funds and therefore their experience and expertise will be lost? Will the Minister please explain why?

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, as of today I can assure the noble Baroness that six trustees have been appointed. We approached more than one of the old trustees to see whether they were prepared to serve on the new trust, but they were not willing. I believe that the new 1993 ILF is a different animal from the old ILF. The opportunity was taken to appoint new trustees. That is in no way a criticism of the existing trustees of the ILF; it is in no way an attempt to say that they have not performed their duties adequately. I have no end of praise for the commitment that they have given to the ILF.
As regards the lack of continuity, most of the existing staff of the ILF will be working for the new successor bodies. There will therefore be continuity. In addition, various visiting social workers who act on a freelance basis for the ILF will still be available to give their expertise to the new bodies.

§ Baroness Hollis of Heigham
My Lords, will the Minister tell us in what way the successor bodies to the ILF are not doing much the same work as the original ILF, namely, to enable severely disabled people to remain in their homes on the basis of cash payments? That expertise is surely even more precious with the transitional arrangements in their current chaos.

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, I tried to assure the noble Baroness that the new 1993 ILF is a different animal. It is restricted in certain ways. For example, it is available only to those between 16 and 65. In addition, it only provides topping up money over and above services provided by local authorities to a value of £200. The new ILF will provide services up to a further £300 above that.

§ Lord Taylor of Gryfe
My Lords, will the Minister give an assurance that in the appointment of trustees and other similar appointments for which he has responsibility, competence will be the most important factor rather than political affiliation? I ask that in the light of the statement recently made by one of his Front Bench colleagues on public appointments and the importance of being "one of us."

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, I have no idea whatever of the political affiliations of the six trustees so far appointed. They have been appointed purely on merit.

§ Lady Kinloss
My Lords, is the Minister aware that disabled people are concerned that the money allocated and earmarked for local authorities for providing services to severely disabled people since the reorganisation of the Independent Living Fund may be insufficient? Will he state what the Government have done to ensure that local authorities can meet their commitments?

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, I suspect that however much we provide people will always argue that there 889 will not be enough. Frankly, we have provided considerable amounts of money for independent living. When we originally set up the Independent Living Fund, we made provision of about £5 million. That was in 1988–89. I do not remember anyone at the time saying that that was not enough. Somewhat like Topsy, that has grown to a provision in the year 1992–93 of £97 million. As from next year there will be a total of £150 mi' lion available for independent living of which £120 million will be for the extension fund, £4 million for the new 1993 fund and over £26 million for the local authorities for their part in independent living.

§ The Countess of Mar
My Lords, will the noble Lord state what publicity has been given to the Independent Living (1993) Fund?

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, I am not aware of any publicity at present. We sent a circular to all local authorities at the beginning of March explaining details of the new scheme. I am sure that the news will get around very quickly to those with interests in the disabled and to the disabled themselves.

§ Lord Ashley of Stoke
My Lords, I am sorry to come back again but I seek clarification. The payments are of 'vital importance to disabled people. Is the Minister washing his hands of the fund and leaving it entirely to the trustees? Alternatively, if problems arise and some people are not paid—that seems very probable—will the Government intervene?

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, as we have explained previously, the primary role is for the local authorities. The Independent Living Fund and its successor, the Independent Living (1993) Fund, provides topping up money. The Independent Living Fund is an independent charitable trust funded by the Government. It is for the trust to decide how to spend that money.