HC Deb 09 December 1976 vol 922 cc350-1W
Mr. Patrick Jenkin

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services why, when he has allowed disabled drivers who have registered as disabled since 1st January 1976 and who are not yet eligible for the mobility allowance to be provided with tricycles as an interim measure, he has not extended the private car allowance for similar reasons.

Mr. Ennals

To have done so would have been to give priority, in the award of cash benefits, to existing car owners. Instead we are concentrating on phasing in the mobility allowance as quickly as possible to those who own cars and those who do not alike. My hon. Friend the Under-Secretary with special responsibility for the Disabled announced the extension of the allowance to children between the ages of 5 and 10 in reply to a Question from my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent, South (Mr. Ashley) on 8th December.—[Vol. 922, c.203–4.]