§ Gregory BarkerTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment has been carried out of the effectiveness of abolishing the Disabled Facilities Grant means test for children in Northern Ireland. [172874]
SpellarThe abolition of the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) means-test for parents of children with disabilities came into effect from 16 February 2004. It is therefore too early for any assessment of effectiveness to be carried out. The working group which was set up to look at the matter considered the potential impact of the abolition in terms of cost to the Government and numbers who could be helped by the abolition. It was estimated that 25–30 applications for DFG are withdrawn each year due to the high contribution.