Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Disabled Persons on 25th November 1986.
Mr. Lilley Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services when he will publish the findings of his Department’s survey of disabled people.
Mr. Major Publication of the full results is expected in 1988.
Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Severe Weather Payments on 25th November 1986.
Mr. Andrew Bowden Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will reconsider his decision to include a £500 capital limit in the criteria of eligibility for exceptionally severe weather payments.
Mr. Major No, the £500 capital rule is in line with that for other single payments.
Mr. Flannery Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether the new severe weather payments will be made to all on supplementary benefit.
Mr. Major Those who will be eligible, subject to the normal £500 capital rule, will be householders where there is a member of the family as assessed for supplementary benefit purposes who is aged 65 or over, chronically sick or disabled, or aged under two.
Mr. Madden Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what estimate he has made of the number of payments of severe weather allowance which would have been made in 1985–86 using the new criteria recently proposed by the Government.
Mr. Major It is not possible with hindsight to make a valid estimate since amounts paid would depend on claimants’ capital holding and take-up in the affected area.
Mr. McCrindle Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement on the new scheme for severe weather payments.
Mr. Major I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to my hon. Friend, the Member for Dumfries (Sir H. Monro), on 20 November at columns 326-27.
Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on the Severe Disablement Premium on 25th November 1986.
Mr. Ashley Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what representations he has received regarding the adequacy of the provision for a severe disablement premium in the Social Security Act; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Major Since Royal Assent we have received representations from the main organisations representing disabled people. I aim to meet them shortly to discuss our proposals for the severe disability premium.
Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on the Severe Disablement Allowance on 25th November 1986.
Mr. Ashley Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people have been denied the severe disablement allowance because of the 10-in-20-years test; and how many of these were members of service families.
Mr. Major I regret that the information requested is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on the Attendance Allowance on 25th November 1986.
Mr. Ashley Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many people are in receipt of the higher rate attendance allowance; and what percentage live on their own;
(2) how many people are currently in receipt of the higher rate attendance allowance and are living alone; and for how many of these people there is someone receiving an invalid care allowance in respect of that person’s care needs.
Mr. Major At 31 March 1985, the latest date for which figures are available, the estimated number of people in receipt of attendance allowance at the higher rate is 222,000. It is not known how many live on their own. Information is not kept for either attendance allowance or invalid care allowance to indicate whether an attendance allowance beneficiary lives alone.
Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Supplementary Benefit on 25th November 1986.
Mr. Ashley Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many severely disabled people are estimated to be currently receiving additional payments with their supplementary benefit because of their disability which total more than the illustrative rates which the severely disabled will receive under the provisions of the Social Security Act.
Mr. Major I refer the right hon. Member to tables 1A and 1B, and 10A and 10B of the technical annex to the White Paper, “Reform of Social Security” (Cmnd. 9691) and to pages 9-14 of the annex which explain the basis on which the tables were constructed. The tables illustrate the effect of income support on sick and disabled people eligible for the disability premium, as compared to their entitlement to supplementary benefit, including additional payments.
Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Unemployment Benefit on 25th November 1986.
Mr. Gareth Wardell Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he has any plans to include the new increased 13-week exclusion period of disallowance from benefit for industrial misconduct and so on as a period of exclusion from the one-year’s entitlement to unemployment benefit.
Mr. Major Section 18(4) of the Social Security Act, 1975 provides regulation-making powers to treat days of disentitlement or disqualification for receiving unemployment benefit as days of entitlement for the purpose of determining whether a person has exhausted his 312 days of benefit. The application of this power in connection with days of disqualification under section 20 of the Act in cases of voluntary unemployment, industrial misconduct and so on, is currently being considered.
Mr. Gareth Wardell Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make it his policy that any young person who is completing an A-level or other part-time further education course and who completes the declaration form to say he or she is genuinely prepared to withdraw from the course should an employment opportunity arise, will continue to be regarded as available for work and entitled to benefit; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Major The current rules governing part-time study by people who are receiving supplementary benefit as unemployed are: the course must not be designated full-time by the institution and must not require more than 21 hours per week of supervised study; a qualifying period of three months in receipt of benefit or on a YTS course must be completed; and the claimant must be willing to terminate the course immediately if a suitable vacancy becomes available. We have no plans to change this policy.
Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Unemployed Persons (Mortgage Interest) on 25th November 1986.
Mr. Deakins Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services when he intends to announce his proposals with regard to mortgage interest payments for the newly unemployed.
Mr. Major We shall be making an announcement as soon as our considerations are complete.
Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on the Invalid Care Allowance on 25th November 1986.
Mr. Skinner Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will introduce measures to ensure that the invalid care allowance is paid to those widows and others who (a) do not currently qualify and (b) lose equivalent dependants benefits under existing arrangements.
Mr. Major We have no plans to do so.
Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Artificial Limbs on 25th November 1986.
Mr. Dubs Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people are waiting for artificial limbs to be (a) fitted or (b) repaired or adjusted.
Mr. Major The artificial limb service does not operate a waiting list. As soon as a patient is referred to one of the Department of Health and Social Security artificial limb and appliance centres and following medical examination and prescription, arrangements are made for the supply of an artificial limb or limbs. Duplicate artificial limbs are generally provided to cover the eventuality of the need for repairs or other adjustments to the limbs in use. Once provided with their prostheses, patients are then given an on-demand service for repair and re-adjustments which vary greatly in the amount of work required; the majority are completed on the day. At any point in time approximately 9,000 artificial limbs are being constructed (4,500) or repaired (4,500).
In asking this question the hon. Member may have in mind the effect on patient services of the J. E. Hanger industrial dispute. Since the start of this dispute 78 patients have had their appointments postponed, several of which have now been re-instated. A larger number have experienced delay. Arrangements have been made to identify these countrywide and where necessary steps are being taken to deal with them in conjunction with the company. Additionally, I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Coventry, South-East (Mr. Nellist) on 17 November at column 75.