§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people were accepted for Motability in each of the past five years; and what proportion this represented in each year of the total number of people granted mobility allowance for the first time or on renewal.
§ Mr. ScottInformation is not available in the form requested. Information on the number of people who have been accepted by the Motability scheme is a matter for Motability itself. However, the information in the table gives the number of mobility allowance beneficiaries who, at a given time, (and shown as a percentage of the total number of beneficiaries current on that date,) had their mobility allowance paid direct to Motability Finance Ltd. (MFL) in respect of lease or hire purchase agreements with Motability.
Information on the number of initial and renewal awards of mobility allowance was given in my earlier answer. It is not possible to draw a direct comparison between these figures, which are a cumulative total over the year, and those shown in column (a) of the table which are snapshot figures.
Date (a) Total number of awards paid direct to MFL (b) Total number of Mob A recipients Percentage of (a) to (b) At 28 March 1987 39,725 472,268 8.4 At 31 March 1988 52,492 523,181 10.0 At 30 March 1989 64,846 566,099 11.5 At 29 March 1990 81,714 605,235 13.5 At 26 March 1991 96,323 648,045 14.9
§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish the total numbers of persons who were(a) awarded mobility allowance for the first time and (b) had their mobility allowance entitlement renewed, in each of the past five years, and for each quarter during the present year; and if he will provide an analysis for each group between those awarded mobility allowance for an indefinite period, for three years and for periods less than three years.
§ Mr. ScottInformation is not available in the form requested. Available information is in the tables.
112W
Number of people awarded Mobility Allowance Period First awards Renewal awards April 1986-March 1987 91,992 25,760 April 1987-March 1988 93,247 26,684 April 1988-March 1989 91,043 31,389 April 1989-March 1990 93,918 29,489 April 1990-March 1991 95,480 34,775 January 1990-March 1991 22,407 10,439
Number of beneficiaries1 by duration of award Date Under 3 years 3 years Over 3 years2 At 28 March 1987 38,221 5,398 428,649 At 31 March 1987 43,145 5,138 474,898 At 29 March 1989 46,827 5,046 514,226 At 30 March 1990 48,076 5,403 551,756 At 26 March 1991 50,884 5,748 591,413 At 25 April 1991 50,579 5,783 593,451 1 Figures relate to all Mobility Allowance beneficiaries 2 Includes awards of Special Mobility Allowance
§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will state what is his latest assessment of the date on which the new mobility allowance provisions of the Disability Living Allowance and Disability Working Allowance Bill will be fully in force.
§ Mr. ScottWe anticipate that entitlement to the new disability living allowance, which will replace both attendance allowance for people under 65 and mobility allowance, will commence in April 1992. We intend, however, to accept claims for the new benefit from February 1992.