Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Maria Miller and Fiona O'Donnell

Monday 24th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Maria Miller]

I thank my hon. Friend for her question. As she will doubtless be aware from her own constituency, the aspirations of young disabled people are no different from those of any other people. That is why, through the Work programme, the Work Choice programme and the access to work scheme, we will give young disabled people all the opportunities they need to progress into work.

[Fiona O'Donnell (East Lothian) (Lab)]

T3. The Secretary of State seemed surprised that we do not share his love of statistics. I wonder whether it was he who briefed the Prime Minister last week, leading to the Prime Minister claiming at Prime Minister’s questions“that 500,000 people have jobs who did not have one at the time of the election.”—[Official Report, 19 October 2011; Vol. 533, c. 893.] The Prime Minister was not at his most eloquent last week. However, according to official figures, between April to June 2010 and the most recent figures—June to August 2011—employment is up by just 87,000. We do not like the Secretary of State’s statistics when they are wrong. Does this not prove that the Government do not have a plan for tackling unemployment?

Welfare Reform Bill

Debate between Maria Miller and Fiona O'Donnell

Wednesday 15th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Fiona O'Donnell]

I know that. I am questioning whether the Minister understands that that is the situation we find ourselves in and the impact it will have. Will the review include Scotland and the other devolved areas of the United Kingdom?

[Maria Miller]

Yes, we do talk with the devolved Administrations, but I say to the hon. Lady that the point everyone is making is that many other hon. Members would like to speak.

[Fiona O'Donnell]

I absolutely take heed of that and apologise if I have taken too much of the House’s time, but I feel passionately about this issue. I will bring my remarks to a close by saying that I hope hon. Members will walk through the Lobby with us to vote in favour of the amendments that my colleagues and hon. Friends on the Front Bench have tabled.

Disability Living Allowance

Debate between Maria Miller and Fiona O'Donnell

Wednesday 9th March 2011 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Maria Miller)]

It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship for the first time, Mr Davies. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Arfon (Hywel Williams) for calling the debate, which has given Members from across the House the opportunity to talk about their personal experiences on this issue.

I am sure that everyone here shares a deep concern to ensure that we get provisions right for disabled people in all our communities, and the coalition Government are certainly absolutely committed to doing so. That is why we have taken the Equality Act 2010 through to Royal Assent, put in place the right to control for thousands of people, driven a personalisation agenda and promoted a new project on access to elected office to help more disabled people to be involved in debates such as this, because, all too often, they are not.

I welcome the support across the House for the need for welfare reform. I think the hon. Member for Glasgow East (Margaret Curran) supports it—at least, the leader of her party does—and we obviously need to debate some of the details today. I certainly welcome the support of the hon. Members for Arfon and for Caerphilly (Mr David).

When it comes to the Welfare Reform Bill, what is certain is that the Government have inherited a mess after 13 years of Labour, and nowhere is that more evident than with DLA, which is almost a case study in how not to run a benefit. DLA lacks any objective test; it has no in-built system to check people’s continued needs for support; and there is a real chance that some people will continue to claim it when they are no longer entitled to. That is no way to manage a really important means of supporting disabled people, and it is certainly no way to manage the spending of £12 billion of taxpayers’ money—an amount that was never envisaged when DLA was first outlined.

It is good to hear the hon. Lady accept that we need to manage costs, and I welcome that acceptance. The previous Government allowed spending on DLA to spiral unchecked. This Government firmly support the principle behind DLA of providing a non-means-tested benefit to support independent living, but the simple truth is that we cannot let DLA go on as it has, especially at a time when we are committed to making the welfare system fit for the 21st century. DLA reform is long overdue, which is why we are proposing in the Welfare Reform Bill today that the personal independence payment should replace DLA, creating a more transparent benefit that is better targeted and more affordable in the long term.

[Fiona O'Donnell]

On transparency, the BBC carried a statement from the Government this morning saying that they had no intention of extending the entitlement onset from three months to six months. Can the Minister confirm that that is the case?

[Maria Miller]

In terms of the entitlement.

[Fiona O'Donnell]

Extending entitlement onset from three months to six months.

[Maria Miller]

The hon. Lady will know that it is absolutely our intention to make changes so that the new PIP assessment supports people with long-term conditions. That is the—[Interruption.] I cannot possibly comment on something reported in the media that I do not have sight of. It is probably easier for me to get back to the hon. Lady to clarify the point than to debate it today.

As part of the wider DLA reform, we have looked at how the mobility component affects people in care homes. As many hon. Members have indicated, we discovered that, much like DLA, the mobility element is characterised by a lot of uncertainty and red tape, and my hon. Friend the Member for Aberconwy (Guto Bebb) picked up on that extremely well. Like him, I have talked to care homes, and every one I have been to has had a different experience of trying to tackle what is one of the most fundamental issues for disabled people—how to get about. That is driving me to make sure that we not only reform DLA correctly, but ensure that people living in our care homes get the support that they need.

When it comes to determining care homes’ duties and contractual obligations, the interpretation is very wide. It is not that people thought it was all rosy in the garden in the past, as the hon. Member for Glasgow East perhaps implied, because there is long-term concern about the lack of clarity over these obligations. There has been almost a sticking-plaster, pragmatic approach to trying to ensure that disabled people, who are some of the most vulnerable people in our community, get the support that they need. The situation has not been helped by an array of very different legal duties and contractual responsibilities, which mean that service providers and residents are unclear in practice about where responsibility lies. Indeed, the hon. Lady might pick that up if she talks to even more of her constituents.

My hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry) picked up on this issue in his contribution. I do not pretend to be able to give him answers to all his questions, but part of the problem is that responsibility for provision of mobility is spread across at least three separate pieces of legislation in a not entirely consistent manner. That is one of the issues that I will be looking at. We have the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010. We also have the 2008 Act itself, which deals with the registration of care homes. It includes a clear obligation on care homes to promote independence, and mobility is part of that. There is also an important role for the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, which makes it clear that local authorities should not take account of DLA when assessing people’s needs. All those things mean that care homes and local authorities have a complex set of measures to deal with. The previous Government could have taken time to provide more joined-up thinking on the issue, and we have put our efforts and energies into dealing with the issue.

Disability Allowance

Debate between Maria Miller and Fiona O'Donnell

Tuesday 30th November 2010 Westminster Hall

[Maria Miller]

Hon. Members must forgive me, but I want to address more of the issues that have been raised directly, and there have been many contributions throughout the debate.

The arrangements are further confused by different funding streams, as Members have pointed out. For example, NHS-funded individuals in residential care do not receive the DLA mobility component, while those funded by local authorities do. If we want to be fair—not only to disabled people, but to taxpayers—we have to tackle the gaps and overlaps and ensure that everyone gets access to the mobility they need, without the taxpayer having to pay again for needs that have already been met. In the current fiscal climate, that is exactly what Members would expect the Government to do.

[Fiona O'Donnell]

Will the Minister give way?

[Maria Miller]

The hon. Lady must forgive me, but I have taken a number of interventions already.

We simply cannot continue to accept that lack of clarity. We currently have mismatched systems for assessing the needs of disabled people: one for DLA, which assesses mobility and need in terms of cash; and another that provides, via local authorities, a more generic needs assessment reflected in services contracted with care homes. Those mismatched systems produce huge potential for duplication, uneven expectations and varying provision. We have to change that and target the right funding on the right people.

I will answer some of the direct issues that Members have raised. There has been a broad question on what consultation there has been with the Scottish Government and Scottish local authorities. I would like to reassure Members that the forthcoming DLA reform consultation document and the legislative process will allow disabled people and other affected groups ample opportunity to provide their views on the measure. My hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West (Peter Bottomley), who has had to leave the debate to attend a meeting, made several important points. I would be happy to meet representatives from Leonard Cheshire homes to discuss the matter further.

My hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon) made an important contribution to the debate and asked a number of specific questions. He, too, has had to leave, to attend a Select Committee meeting. I can clarify that the measure was designed to remove overlaps in the payment of mobility support, as I have outlined. It is not intended to lead to a loss of independence and we remain committed to promoting greater personalisation for disabled people. I reiterate that milestones have been agreed with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, including the growth in personal budgets, and that we are absolutely committed to the implementation of personalisation across the board.

The hon. Member for Glasgow North East (Mr Bain) talked about the ability of people living in residential care homes to get into work. I would like to be clear that the ability of individuals in care homes to take advantage of access to work, which can cover their travel costs, makes an enormous difference to them. The hon. Member for Stretford and Urmston talked about DLA being paid for social and medical needs. To be absolutely clear on that point, we will shortly be consulting on the wider reform of DLA and are absolutely committed to a social model for it, not a medical model. She mentioned article 20 of the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, which sets out the right to personal mobility and promotes the greatest possible independence. The Government’s measure is designed not to reduce the mobility of disabled people, but to address the current complexities in the system.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Maria Miller and Fiona O'Donnell

Monday 22nd November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Fiona O'Donnell (East Lothian) (Lab)]

My constituent, Mr Edwards, is in receipt of the independent living fund, which empowers him to buy services to meet his needs. Uncertainty over the future of the fund is causing him and his family great concern. When will the Government end that uncertainty?

[Maria Miller]

As the hon. Lady knows, the uncertainty is a result of the previous Administration not having correctly financed the independent living fund. That led to the trustees of the fund having to close it to new applicants. We have already undertaken an informal consultation about the future of the fund, and will shortly come forward with a formal consultation. My overwhelming requirement will be to make sure that existing recipients continue to be well supported.