§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if, pursuant to the reply to the right hon. Member for Manchester, Wythenshawe on 18 December, Official Report, column 705, a person will be eligible for the severe disability premium if he uses that premium to meet the expenses of a volunteer living with him who is not under the auspices of a voluntary organisation;
(2) if, pursuant to the reply to the right hon. Member for Manchester, Wythenshawe on 18 December, Official Report, column 705, a person will be eligible for the severe disability premium if he uses that premium to pay for a person to live with him in order to provide the assistance he requires.
§ Mr. Major[pursuant to his reply, 13 January 1987]: A person, other than a volunteer employed by a charitable or other organisation (except a local authority), who provides care for a severely disabled person would be entitled to claim invalid care allowance subject to the normal qualifying conditions for that benefit. Among other conditions, the severe disability premium would not be paid where invalid care allowance was in payment.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, pursuant to the reply to the right hon. Member for Manchester, Wythenshaw on 18 December, Official Report, column 705, he will state what information he has on the range of charges currently being made by voluntary organisations providing volunteers to live with severely disabled people.
§ Mr. Major[pursuant to his reply, 13 January 1987]: The Department does not maintain information of this kind. I understand, however, that the independent living scheme organised by Community Service Volunteers to help severely disabled people in their homes charges project sponsors a placement fee of £68 a month for each volunteer. In addition, a development fee of £100 is payable by new projects on receipt of application. A variable boarding and food allowance is payable and each volunteer receives a personal payment of £15.25 a week.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, pursuant to the reply to the right hon. 349W Member for Manchester, Wythenshaw on 18 December, Official Report, column 705, he will state what is the number of the estimated 7,000 recipients of the severe disability premium who will be in receipt of the higher rate of attendance allowance.
§ Mr. Major[pursuant to his reply, 13 January 1987]: The available data do not enable reliable separate estimates to be made between those receiving the higher and lower rates of attendance allowance.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) why he has decided to offer the severe disability premium only to disabled people who live alone and are in receipt of attendance allowance but who are not cared for by a person claiming invalid care allowance;
(2) on what basis it has been decided that disabled people who are cared for by someone in receipt of invalid care allowance should not qualify for the severe disability premium and if he will make a statement.
Regions1 UB only claimants (thousands) As at 8 May 1986 UB and SB claimants (thousands) As at 8 May 1986 SB claimants (thousands) As at 8 May 1986 UB £ million 1985–86 SB £ million 1985–862 South East 184.2 48.7 405.7 395 n.a. East Anglia 23.0 6.7 38.7 48 n.a. South West 53.1 14.6 93.9 134 n.a. West Midlands 69.3 19.7 199.6 131 n.a. East Midlands 48.4 12.8 99.5 93 n.a. Yorkshire and Humberside 79 4 19.9 168.8 144 n.a. North West 92.4 25.6 261.2 214 n.a. North 53.9 14.8 128.8 140 n.a. Wales 40.9 12.2 98.5 88 n.a. Scotland 87.3 19.3 189.2 190 n.a. All regions3 731.9 194.4 1,683.9 1,577 4,100 1Breakdown is based on Department of Employment regions. 2A regional breakdown of supplementary benefit expenditure to the unemployed is not available. 3Figures are rounded to the nearest 100 and may, therefore, appear not to add. The number of dependants was 150,200 for unemployment benefit claimants of whom 73,800 were also receiving supplementary benefit (at May 1986) and 1,306,000 for supplementary benefit claimants (at December 1984). In unemployment benefit cases the figure is for adult dependants only because there are no dependancy benefits
350W
Dependants of Unemployed SB Claimants at December 1984 (thousands) Regions1 Partners Children Total North Eastern 81 151 232 London North 64 112 176 London South 48 81 129 Midlands 88 171 259 North Western 77 146 223 Scotland 44 82 126 Wales2 33 59 92 South Western 26 42 68 All regions3 460 846 1,306 1DHSS regional network. 2Wales and South Western are parts of the same region but the figures have been separated for the purposes of comparison. 3Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand and may, therefore appear not to add.
§ Mr. Major[pursuant to his reply, 13 January 1987]: The severe disability premium is intended to give help to severely disabled people who live independently in the community and who have no one to look after them. It is consistent with that aim that those who are looked after by someone receiving invalid care allowance should not be eligible for the premium.