§ Mr. Roger KingTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether any disability benefit regulations will be laid before the summer adjournment.
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§ Mr. ScottAs the first step in a further consultation process on the new disability benefits I have today laid before the House draft regulations to provide for the new Disability Living Allowance Advisory Board. This new body will provide expert advice to staff working on disability living allowance and attendance allowance, which will remain for people disabled over age 65. The membership of the board will comprise people with disabilities and others with experience in the needs of disabled people and we will be inviting organisations of and for disabled people to make suggestions for its membership.
Over the next few weeks we shall also be issuing for comments the draft claim forms for disability living allowance and disability working allowance and the regulations which set out how the new benefits will operate in detail. We shall also be issuing the draft disability handbook which will assist the staff working on disability living allowance, and the draft regulations for the two benefits.
As part of this strategy of consulting disabled people about the administration of benefits we have conducted a survey of consumer views of the attendance allowance medical examination. The report of this survey, which shows a high level of satisfaction with the service provided by examining doctors will be published next week.
We have also laid before the House today a set of regulations to enable members of Her Majesty's forces to satisfy the residence test for severe disablement allowance.
Finally, we plan to lay regulations before the end of the parliamentary Session to introduce some beneficial changes to the industrial injuries provisions. We shall be extending the prescription for occupational asthma and adding two new diseases, orf and hydatidosis, to the schedule of prescribed diseases.