Oral Answers to Questions

Pamela Nash Excerpts

Monday 14th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan Smith]

We are returning the levels on the child issue that the hon. Lady is talking about to the levels left by the previous Government in 2006. It is all very well for the Opposition to nit-pick and say that they are desperately in tune and on side with all those people who are going to feel the squeeze, but in reality the Labour party now has a leader who was responsible, with his colleagues, for spending money like there was no tomorrow. That has left us with a major deficit, and now we have to get that money back. If she does not like what we are doing, please can she tell us where she would intend the money to come from?

[Pamela Nash (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab)]

10. What recent discussions his Department has had with disability organisations on the removal of the mobility component of disability living allowance from those in residential care homes.

[Stephen Twigg (Liverpool, West Derby) (Lab/Co-op)]

12. What recent discussions his Department has had with disability organisations on the removal of the mobility component of disability living allowance from those in residential care homes.

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

My officials and I have discussed the proposals with regard to the mobility component of disability living allowance with a wide range of disability organisations, and disabled individuals and their families. This has included visiting and discussing the proposals with care home residents. These discussions have taken place in the context of the wider public consultation on DLA reform that is currently under way.

[Pamela Nash]

I thank the Minister for her answer, although I do not think that it will do much to allay my constituents’ fears about the impact on them of the DLA cuts. I am happy that she mentioned that the Government have been in discussion with disabilities charities. More specifically, however, what discussions has she had with those charities about families with children in residential care homes and the impact on them? Those families will no longer be able to take their children out at weekends and in school holidays.

[Maria Miller]

So that we are clear, I should say that the Government are talking about retaining spending on DLA at the same level as last year—that is after a 30% increase in expenditure over the past eight years under the Labour Government. With regard to the implications for children living in residential care settings, we are obviously looking at the details, but I can assure the hon. Lady that the intention behind the policy is very much about removing overlaps, not mobility, in the provision.

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[Mr Duncan Smith]

Given my political career, I have given up giving advice to anybody, so the best thing the shadow Secretary of State can do is forge his own way and I will look to see how I can dismantle that.

[Pamela Nash (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab)]

T5. On Friday, I visited the Reeltime youth and music group in my constituency, where I met three young men who had got their jobs through the future jobs fund. They feel that the FJF is a great success for them, and so did the group. The Scottish Labour party agrees, and has today announced that it will create 10,000 places if it wins in May. Will the Government reconsider scrapping the FJF, or do they still believe youth unemployment is a price worth paying?

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

I sometimes think Opposition Members simply do not listen. First, as we have just heard, the Labour party left behind for us the most monumental financial mess, so there are not large amounts of money in the kitty to pay for the best support we could possibly deliver or all the things that we would like to do. The reality is that we have chosen to divert the money that we have into paying for apprenticeships. We have announced tens of thousands of extra apprenticeships, as we believe that they are a much better way of delivering support to young people. There are huge numbers of opportunities for young people to take advantage of an apprenticeship and build a proper career, and there will be more and more such opportunities as the spending review goes by.