Disability Living Allowance

Lord Dodds of Duncairn Excerpts

Wednesday 9th March 2011 Westminster Hall

[Guto Bebb (Aberconwy) (Con)]

I, too, congratulate the hon. Member for Arfon (Hywel Williams) on securing this debate. I feel nervous about contributing to the discussion that he has led, as he understands the issue and the field extremely well. I associate myself with the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry): although I feel unqualified to comment on the issue, as an MP, I respect the fact that people come to my surgeries with concerns, and it is important to raise those concerns with the Minister.

I also associate myself with the comments made about the active way in which the Minister has responded to correspondence, especially in relation to constituency matters that I have raised. An effort has been made to communicate, and that communication has been detailed and worth while, and it has been appreciated by constituents. The fact that we are looking at delaying changes to the mobility component until 2013 is welcome. It is a difficult and complex area, and that complexity must be looked at carefully before we implement any changes.

Before I look at the mobility component of DLA, I would like to make a point about the work capability assessment process. I am MP for a constituency where about 42% of the population are first-language Welsh speakers. Time and again, people who come to my surgeries are expected to attend a work capability assessment in which they must explain their position and say whether they are capable of working. Often, they have to do that in English, even though the Welsh Language Act 1993 requires them to be able to do it in Welsh. When someone is in a stressful situation such as that, it is unacceptable that the Department is unable to provide a bilingual service. I have received assurances that the Department is working within the demands of the Welsh Language Act, but time and again the situation on the ground in north Wales does not correspond with those assurances. I would like the Minister to respond to that point.

When I received a letter from the Minister, I almost felt as if she had been in my constituency surgery. The arguments about the complexity of the mobility care component in care homes show that the current situation is not coherent. From talking to people in care homes, it becomes clear that each care home deals with the mobility component in a different way. I have been quite proactive on this issue because I represent a constituency with a high average age—I think I am right to say that the constituency of Aberconwy has the highest average age of any constituency in Wales—and as a result, there are a lot of care homes. My office has spoken to 17 care homes to discuss how they deal with the mobility component and whether it is funded by the local authority. From those 17 care homes, we have had 17 different answers, so the chaos surrounding the issue is clear. It is difficult to move forward with a policy unless we acknowledge that the duplication mentioned by the Department is not constant or ongoing, and that the situation is very different from one case to another. The Government, and the Minister in particular, are trying extremely hard to address the issue in a fair and coherent manner, but to do that we need a long consultation process, which I will certainly feed into.

On a more personal level, it is crucial that consultations take place in a responsible manner. It was distressing to see the parents of a 57-year-old individual who has been in a care home all her adult life come into my surgery. Both those parents are over 80 years old, and are distressed because they believe that the mobility component will be lost. They feel distressed by that, and it is important to point out to constituents that we are genuinely undergoing a consultation process. It is important to ensure that that process is understood and communicated.

[Mr Nigel Dodds (Belfast North) (DUP)]

The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point as part of an excellent speech. These are real anxieties and concerns because people see that the mobility component is scheduled to be removed. I welcome the fact that the consultation period has been extended, but that compounds the period of great uncertainty for people. There is a bit of a dilemma.

[Guto Bebb]

There is, but I am sure the right hon. Gentleman would agree that a Government who consult and listen are a Government who will succeed. The Department is genuine about the consultation and about listening, and that must be communicated to individuals. We do not want to create undue distress, but I do not think that the Government have communicated well on this issue, and we must take responsibility for that.

I understand that I must conclude my comments before 10.40 am, so I will raise a couple of important points. As I have said, the Minister has been good in responding to almost all my questions, but one question about the discussions the Department has held with the Welsh Assembly Government on this issue has not yet received a response. An excellent point was made about the fact that we are dealing with a complex situation in which the Welsh Assembly Government are responsible for care and social care, but the benefit system is with Westminster. I am slightly concerned that, as yet, the question about what discussions have been held between the Welsh Assembly Government and the coalition Government has not received a response. I am sure that the Minister will write to me or confirm that there have been discussions. We are trying to ensure that the system works, and it is imperative that the social care element and the benefit system interact positively. Part of that interaction in a Welsh context involves good, positive discussion between the Government in Westminster and the Government in Cardiff Bay.