Disabled People: Independent Living Fund

Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope Excerpts

Monday 31st March 2014 Grand Committee

[Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope (LD)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Low of Dalston. I entirely agree with his concluding point that the needs of people who have multiple impediments are not being properly taken account of. I join others in congratulating the noble Baroness, Lady Campbell of Surbiton, on introducing this debate. She is being entirely realistic in the demands that she makes, and I support both of them. I hope that the Committee will not allow the Minister to duck both the propositions that she put: first, her idea of a reference group to monitor the two-year period that is just about to unfold; and secondly, the possibility of regulations and guidance that would continue thereafter. These are both entirely appropriate and I agree with her desire to bring them about.

Like some other colleagues, I am a refugee from the days when the 1988 regulations were put in place by that great man, Lord Newton, and Nick Scott. Those were the days of an enlightened Conservative Administration—some of us remember that. There was a real problem in 1988, and Tony Newton cut through some of the difficulties of moving the supplementary benefit into the new social security system and was enlightened enough to set this thing up.

We would be moving in entirely the wrong direction if the Independent Living Fund was closed. One of the books I received for Christmas—I am still reading it because it is very, very thick—is Andrew Solomon’s Far from the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity. It is inspiring and I recommend it to the Minister in particular because it might occupy his time and prevent him from getting involved in anything more nefarious in the department. It is an inspirational book because it shows what can be done with proper support. It also shows what can be done regarding employment if there is adequate support.

The simple point I want to make is that if you look at the work being done by the noble Lord, Lord O’Donnell, on the question of well-being and the inadequacies of using GDP and simple monetary ways of measuring some of these issues faced by severely impaired individuals, we are missing an opportunity. Some of the case histories that Andrew Solomon considers in his book represent positive contributions to the families. In those cases, not only is well-being demonstrably and undeniably increased but they create a business case for preventive spending for the long term. If people get into work, they do not need nearly as much financial support. With assistance, they can trade their way out of difficulty.

Looking forward, the idea is not easy and is still novel. We should be testing whether systems such as the Independent Living Fund can be reconfigured in a way that considers spending as preventive. The reference group that we are thinking about setting up here—I hope that the Minister can consent to that—could additionally be tasked with looking at individual examples in which severe impairments are faced by family members and at how they can be turned around into success stories, and in which the well-being of everyone involved can be increased. That is a very interesting aspect of public policy that we are missing at the moment, and from which we are stepping away by closing the Independent Living Fund. We are doing the wrong thing. I would personally agree to the setting up of a reference group such as that suggested by the noble Baroness, with guidance to examine in a more informed way the issues and possibilities for preventive spending.

Like my noble friend Lord Cormack, I am already a signed-up member of the fan club of the noble Baroness, Lady Campbell of Surbiton. I will therefore follow her lead and support her in every way that I can in trying to establish the reference group that she is asking for.