HC Deb 20 March 1991 vol 188 cc124-5W
Mr. Alfred Morris

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of the number of people who will be eligible for the new lower rate of care component of the disability living allowance by virtue of(a) the requirement of attention for a significant portion of the day and (b) inability to prepare a cooked meal; what is his estimate of the take-up rate for each group; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Scott

We expect 140,000 people to receive the lower rate care component of disability living allowance in 1993–94. It is not possible to give any reliable estimates of how many of the anticipated caseload will qualify by each of the alternative routes to entitlement.

Mr. Alfred Morris

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to the answer to the right hon. Member for Manchester, Wythenshawe of 28 February, column610, what is his estimate of the number and proportion of people who need special diets who will qualify for the new lower rate of care component of the disability living allowance; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Scott

Something under 500,000 people below the age of 65 said that they needed a special diet in response to an Office of Population Censuses and Surveys question. Many of this group would be at the lower levels of the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys severity scales. The comment in the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys fourth report thatnot all the problems included under this heading (eating, drinking, and digesting difficulties) were strictly speaking disabilities", applies even more strongly to this group. Nevertheless, even after allowing for overlaps between the different rates and components of disability living allowance, we estimate that nearly 200,000 of the people in this group would be in receipt of at least one of the rates of the new benefit.

Mr. Alfred Morris

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to the answer to the right hon. Member for Manchester, Wythenshawe on 28 February,Official Report, column 610, if he will explain the basis for the increase in his estimate of the number of recipients of the new lower care component of the disability living allowance from paragraph 4.12 of "The Way Ahead"—Cm. 917—to the figure given in his answer; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Scott

The figure of 240,000 given to the right hon. Member on 28 February 1991 represented the number of people whom we anticipate will be eligible for the new lower rate care component of the disability living allowance. The figure of 140,000 quoted in paragraph 4.12 of "The Way Ahead"—Cm. 917—represents our best estimate of the numbers who will be receiving the new lower rate care component in 1993–94.