§ Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his answer of 23 November 2001,Official Report, column 539W, on winter fuel allowance, (1) by what factors and measures the (a) care and (b) mobility components of disability living allowance (i) were first and (ii) are calculated; [19918]
(2) what calculations have been made to ensure that (a) nursing, (b) dressing, (c) essential provision purchasing, (d) domestic cleaning, (e) personal hygiene and (f) heating costs are properly reflected in the amounts claimable for those receiving lower, middle and higher rates of disability living allowance [19919]
§ Mr. McCartneyDisability living allowance provides a contribution towards the generality of extra costs faced by severely disabled people as a result of their disabilities. The amounts payable are not based on calculations of the costs of specific items, and recipients are free to spend the benefit according to their own priorities and requirements
775WWhen the allowance was introduced in 1992, the highest and middle care components were set at the same weekly amounts as the higher and lower rates of attendance allowance, and the higher mobility component was set at the same weekly amount as the mobility allowance which it replaced. This was because the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys' major surveys of disabled people in Great Britain in the 1980s had found that those allowances were well directed towards the most common costly disabilities, and were more than sufficient to cover disability-related expenditure in most cases. For less severely disabled people, the lowest care component and the lower mobility component were set above the average weekly amount of disability-related expenditure found by the disability surveys. Since 1992, all components have been uprated annually in line with the movement in prices.