HC Deb 15 January 1990 vol 165 cc114-5W
Mr. Kirkwood

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will consider extending the scope of the mobility allowance scheme to cover applicants who can show that they would have qualified for the allowance if they had made application before becoming 66 years of age and are now prevented from receiving the allowance only because they were unaware of the cut-off age of 66 years; and if he will estimate the costs involved in any such extension.

Mr. Scott

Although mobility allowance can be claimed during the year in which a person is aged 65, the medical eligibility criteria need to be fulfilled before the person reaches that age. We regard a year as a reasonable period to allow for making a claim, especially as the steady growth in the number of recipients indicates that the existence of the allowance is widely known. I regret that it is not possible to provide a reliable estimate of the cost of an extension of the upper age limit for claiming.

Mr. Kirkwood

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what further plans he now has to increase the availability of mobility allowance; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what consideration he is giving to the introduction of a costs allowance for disabled people not helped by either mobility allowance or attendance allowance.

Mr. Scott

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Security announced on 10 January, at columns941–52, that the Government propose to introduce a new disability allowance for people of working age and below which will extend help with the extra costs of disability to people with moderate to severe disabilities who do not at present qualify for mobility allowance or attendance allowance. For people whose disability begins before age 65, the new allowance will subsume the help currently given through attendance allowance and mobility allowance within a common structure and extend help to people with care and mobility needs who do not currently qualify for attendance allowance or mobility allowance.