§ Q132. Mr. HannamTo ask the Prime Minister if she will make a statement on the Government's latest proposals to help the disabled.
§ The Prime MinisterMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Security recently announced major proposals to improve social security help for people with disabilities. Our strategy is to improve the balance and structure of benefits for disabled people who are unable to work, and in particular to do more for those disabled from258W birth or early in life, and to improve the help given to those disabled people who can and want to work. The changes we propose to make include a new disability allowance for people of working age and below to extend help with the extra costs of being disabled; a new disability employment credit to make it easier for disabled people to take up jobs, and an increase of up to £10 a week in severe disablement allowance. Our proposals will give extra help to some 850,000 people and their net effect will be to add by 1993–94 some £300 million to the total cost of the benefits we pay to long-term sick and disabled people and their carers.