§ Mr. BradleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security on what evidence it was decided that carers of people in receipt of the lower rate care component of disability living allowance should not be entitled to invalid care allowance.
§ Mr. ScottDisability living allowance was introduced following surveys of the disabled carried out in 1985–1988 by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys. We introduced the new lower rates of disability living allowance to help people with less severe disabilities who were unable to qualify for benefit previously.
The purpose of invalid care allowance is to provide a measure of financial assistance to those who forgo the opportunity of full-time work in order to provide regular and substantial care to a severely disabled person. It is doubtful that a person receiving the lower rate of the disability living allowance care component would require such substantial care.
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§ Mr. BradleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will consider allowing the record of contributions made by carers in any tax year to count towards unemployment benefit.
§ Mr. BradleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will extend entitlement to the carer premium to carers over the age of 65 years who can establish underlying entitlement to invalid care allowance on the same basis as their younger counterparts.
§ Mr. ScottSince it is not possible for people who become carers over age of 65 to establish entitlement to invalid care allowance there can be no question therefore of extending carer premium to this group.