Covronavirus, Disability and Access to Services

Marion Fellows Excerpts

Thursday 15th April 2021 Westminster Hall

[Marion Fellows (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP) [V]]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Graham. I thank the right hon. Member for Romsey and Southampton North (Caroline Nokes) for securing this important debate, and I thank the members of the Women and Equalities Committee and those who further contributed to this report. I also want to thank the right hon. Lady for her tribute to Dame Cheryl Gillan, who is indeed sorely missed.

It is important to note that the coronavirus pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on people with disabilities and has in fact exacerbated the inequalities that they face. Disabled people are more likely to have died as a result of covid-19. Notwithstanding this Government’s aversion to independent judge-led inquiries, there must be one on this issue. We must understand why people with disabilities were so much more affected than others. Is it because of poverty? A recently published report by the Social Market Foundation, commissioned by Scope, revealed that almost half of all people in poverty in the UK are disabled or live with someone who is disabled. The Disability Benefits Consortium reports that 82% of disabled benefit claimants have had to spend “more money than normal” during the pandemic. Almost two thirds have had to go without essential items, and almost half report being unable to pay basic bills for rent and utilities.

Scope recently reported on difficulties with employment and support allowance, such as work capability assessments not being scheduled before the end of the 365-day period. This means that entitlement to the supplementary benefits that claimants should receive is withheld and they can become between £54 and £39 a week worse off. If someone then has to claim universal credit instead, they face a five-week wait. If they have earnings above the threshold, they might not qualify at all, leaving them without adequate support.

The SNP has repeatedly called for the £20 per week uplift in universal credit to be applied to legacy benefits such as ESA, but the Government have completely refused to do so. When that lifeline ends, 700,000 UK families will be pushed into poverty when their incomes fall by £1,000 a year.

The UK Government have had difficulty in communicating with people with disabilities, as pointed out in the report. Even an easy thing to do such as having a BSL signer at No. 10 briefings during the pandemic was not in place, whereas in Scotland the daily briefings with the First Minister were signed from the start. It is not hard to arrange, but the lack of that basic tool for the deaf community reveals a lack of thought on the best way to communicate directly with deaf members of the population who need to understand what is going on. They feel cut off at the best of times.

The report notes that the use of “do not resuscitate” notices, which emerged in the early days of the pandemic, is “deeply concerning”. These issues caused disabled people great distress and anxiety and left them feeling that their lives were less valued than others. Indeed, one of my staff was deeply affected by the rising panic on UK forums where this was being discussed. I was really pleased that I could reassure her that such a practice was not being carried out in Scotland. Bad communication makes bad situations worse.

People with disabilities must never be othered by Government, which is why the SNP Scottish Government have built a social security system based on the principle of dignity and respect. As set out in their Budget, the Scottish Government have committed £3.5 billion in benefits to support people with disabilities in 2020-21. Those payments will reach more than 800,000 people. The money will go directly to the people in Scotland who need it most.

The first disability assistance benefit to be introduced by the Scottish Government was the child winter heating assistance annual payment of £200. That is the only annual winter heating payment for children in the UK, and it represents a £2.9 million investment in the health and wellbeing of the most severely disabled children and young people. Payments have already been made to people who are able to benefit from the care component of child disability living allowance.

The Cabinet Office disability unit is developing a national strategy for disabled people, and the Minister for Care has said that that will be published “later this spring”, but later this spring is not an exact enough date. We need to know when it will be published. May I suggest that the Minister look at what the Scottish Government have already done in publishing a delivery plan called “A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People”? That is our delivery plan to incorporate the United Nations convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. It covers the period from 2016 to 2021, and it aims to make equality of opportunity, access to services and independent living a reality for all disabled people in Scotland.

The Scottish SNP Government are already delivering things such as free bus travel for disabled people and have protected the disabled students allowance and bursaries. They have changed the rules on war disablement pensions so that they are exempt from the assessment of income. The Scottish Government will continue to fund support payments to severely disabled people, enabling them to live as independently as possible. This Government should do as much.