§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the assumptions on uprating of benefit, referred to in Note 5 to the Answer of 3 November 2003,Official Report, columns 470–2W, on pensioners' benefits, were. [166647]
§ Maria EagleThe current policy on uprating of Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Attendance Allowance (AA) and Carers' Allowance (CA), to which I referred in note 5 to the written answer I gave to the hon Member on 3 November 2003,Official Report, columns 470–2W, is that these benefits are uprated in April each year in line with the movement of the Retail Prices Index (RPI) over the 12 months to the previous September. This policy is applied when estimating expenditure on these benefits for future years, using the latest HM Treasury medium term assumptions for the annual movement of the RPI up to 2006–07, and an assumption of an annual movement of the RPI equal to 2.58 per cent for the long term (beyond 2006–07).