HC Deb 05 March 1990 vol 168 cc523-5W
27. Mr. Pawsey

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a further statement on his proposals to extend help with the extra costs of disability to less severely disabled people of working age and below.

Mr. Scott

"The Way Ahead: Benefits for Disabled People" (Cm. 917) which we laid before Parliament on 10 January includes a proposal to introduce a new disability allowance in April 1992 for people of working age and below. The new benefit will incorporate the existing payments made through attendance allowance and mobility allowance within a common structure for administration and adjudication and introduce new lower rate payments for people with moderate-to-severe disabilities who have care and mobility needs. The disability allowance will have two separate components: a care component paid at three different levels, and a mobility component paid at two levels. We estimate that about 850,000 people will receive the mobility component of the disability allowance, including 150,000 who do not qualify for help through mobility allowance. We estimate some 540,000 will receive the care component, including 140,000 who do not qualify for attendance allowance.

Mr. Wareing

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on his policy towards the HELIOS programme of the European Community for disabled people.

Mr. Scott

Information on the steps the Government are taking to ensure that the United Kingdom plays a full and active role in the HELIOS programme was given in my reply to the right hon. Member for Manchester, Wythenshawe (Mr. Morris) on 20 December 1989 at Column302. I opened the conference, which was well attended, to publicise the HELIOS programme on 9 February.

43. Mr. Andy Stewart

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what recent estimate he has made of how many people will gain from the disability package set out in "The Way Ahead".

47. Mr. Burt

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people he estimates will benefit from the proposals set out in "The Way Ahead".

Mr. Scott

We estimate that some 850,000 disabled people and carers will gain from the proposals set out in "The Way Ahead: Benefits for Disabled People".

46. Mr. Ian Bruce

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a further statement on his plans for help to those who are less severely disabled and of working age and below.

Mr. Scott

The proposals set out in "The Way Ahead: Benefits for Disabled People" (Cm. 917) include a number of measures to help those who are less severely disabled and of working age and below. In particular, the new disability allowance for people of working age and below will extend help with the extra costs of being disabled; the new disability employment credit will make it easier for disabled people to take up jobs; and there will be an increase of up to £10 a week in severe disablement allowance for those disabled early in life. These proposals are in addition to the package of 10 measures announced last October. These include improving the help provided by income support and housing benefit for the least well off who are disabled by increasing the disability premium for adults by £1.70 for a single person and £2.60 for a couple; helping families with disabled children by raising the disabled child's premium from £6.50 to £15.40; and helping carers by introducing a carer's premium for those receiving invalid care allowance. In addition, mobility allowance will be extended to people who are both deaf and blind; attendance allowance will be extended to children under two; and the six-month waiting period for attendance allowance will be abolished for terminally ill people. We are also improving incentives to rehabilitation for employment by increasing by £6.50 the therapeutic earnings limit in invalidity benefit (IVB) and severe disablement allowance (SDA), and enabling people receiving IVB and SDA to keep their benefit when they go on an employment rehabilitation course.

48. Mr. Summerson

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people will benefit from new measures to help disabled people who do not qualify for attendance allowance or mobility allowance.

Mr. Scott

I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Mr. Rathbone) on 5 February at column519.