Oral Answers to Questions

William Bain Excerpts

Monday 10th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Steve Webb]

The consultation that we undertook on the RPI-CPI change was about occupational pensions, and the majority of responses were from occupational pension organisations. Unsurprisingly, as CPI is generally lower, members of the schemes were not so keen and those who have to pay for the schemes were rather keener.

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

Is the Minister aware that, at the weekend, the disability charity Scope described her plans to remove the mobility component of disability living allowance as “a callous decision”, which would

“result in people being prisoners in their own homes”,

and that disability lawyers have expressed concerns about the compatibility of the changes with the European convention on human rights? When will the Minister join the growing national consensus that the plans are unfair and unacceptable, and withdraw them?

[Maria Miller]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. It is important to make it clear that our proposals apply to people who live in residential care homes, not those who live in residential accommodation. That was slightly unclear from the question. Obviously, any measure that the Government propose is subject to a full impact assessment, in which human rights and other legislation will be examined in detail. I can assure the hon. Gentleman that we have already taken advice on the matter, and that the measures fully comply with human rights legislation.