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Disability Living Allowance

10. Mr. Mark Harper (Forest of Dean) (Con): What assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of its policy on paying disability living allowance to parents of children with disabilities. [57326]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mrs. Anne McGuire): Disability living allowance provides the families of disabled children with some £900 million a year, and up to £102.90 per week in individual cases, to help with the extra costs of their children's disabilities. Some 284,000 children, including 300 in the hon. Gentleman's constituency, are receiving the benefit—an increase of 11 per cent. in the past three years.

Mr. Harper: The Minister will know that there is a 12-week waiting period for disability living allowance. In cases of cancer in children, it is often clear from diagnosis whether they face a long period of chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Will the Minister consider whether, in those specific cases of childhood cancer, it would be possible to waive the 12-week wait, if they face that long period of treatment?
 
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Mrs. McGuire: There are issues about when a benefit can come into force following a diagnosis, but I will reflect on what the hon. Gentleman says. We appreciate that in cases involving children we must try to develop a system that responds sensitively to children's disabilities or health conditions. There is always some disconnect between the point of diagnosis and the commencement of the benefit, but I will consider the hon. Gentleman's comments.

Pensions

11. Mark Tami (Alyn and Deeside) (Lab): If he will review the criteria for entitlement to back payment of pensions. [57327]

The Minister for Pensions Reform (Mr. Stephen Timms): The rules were changed in July 2005 to permit state pensions to be backdated for up to 12 months. People who defer claiming their state pension now receive a larger increase in its value than used to be the case, and there is a lump sum option for those who defer for at least a year, so nobody should now lose out if they do not claim their state pension as soon as they reach state pension age.

Mark Tami: As my hon. Friend knows, I have written to the Department on many occasions regarding the case of Mrs. Lalek, who was underpaid pension for almost 10 years. Under Department for Work and Pension rules, she could receive only a small amount in back payment, despite the fact that she is sure she never received any notification or correspondence from the Department about her entitlement. Should the system not be more flexible, to take account of such cases?

Mr. Timms: I have had the chance to look at some of the correspondence that my hon. Friend sent the Department. I understand that for a number of years his constituent has been receiving the full amount due. The issue in this case was adult dependency increases, which provide additional income-related financial support to the household. The support is income related, so it is not appropriate to encourage deferral, as it is in the case of the basic state pension and state second pension. According to the Department's records, forms were sent out, but in the end it is for people to check what their entitlement is and to submit a claim for benefits to which they are entitled. That appears not to have happened in this case.

Incapacity Benefit

12. Mr. Ian Davidson (Glasgow, South-West) (Lab/Co-op): When he next plans to visit Glasgow to discuss incapacity benefit reform. [57328]

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr. John Hutton): At the invitation of my hon. Friend, I visited Glasgow last Friday to discuss the Government's proposals for welfare reform.

Mr. Davidson: I am grateful that the Secretary of State visited Glasgow on Thursday, when he met some 60 people for a two-hour discussion. On Friday, he met the city council, around 70 people from the voluntary
 
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sector and around 80 employers. Then he went to my constituency, where he met a host of other people, but that was last week: what has he done for me recently? In particular, when does he expect to announce that Glasgow will be one of the pilots for new invalidity benefit roll-out proposals?

Mr. Hutton: My hon. Friend is obviously a hard man to please, so I shall have to return to Glasgow, if he will have me.

Mr. Davidson: Thursday?

Mr. Hutton: I had better bring my cheque book this time.

My hon. Friend has raised a serious point about the city strategy, which is outlined in the Green Paper. We will organise a subsequent event in London later this spring, when we hope to set out further details of our proposals for taking forward that important and innovative part of the welfare reform Green Paper. I hope that that will provide another way to make further progress on getting people off benefit and back into work, which is where they want to be not only in Glasgow, but in all parts of the country.

13. Mr. Robert Goodwill (Scarborough and Whitby) (Con): If he will make a statement on his Department's plans to reduce the number of people claiming incapacity benefit. [57330]

The Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform (Margaret Hodge): Our successful pathways to work pilots have shown that many people on incapacity benefit can move back into work with the right help and support, which has reinforced our view that labelling people on incapacity benefits as "incapable of work" is wrong and damaging. Our reforms will focus as much on how we can help people back into work as ensuring their entitlement to benefit.

Mr. Goodwill: In the Yorkshire region, there are three times as many people out of work and claiming incapacity benefit as there are people claiming unemployment benefit. In the borough of Scarborough alone, more than 5,600 people are on the sick, which is more than 9 per cent. of the work force. Why does the Minister think that, despite record health spending, there are record levels of incapacity in Yorkshire?

Margaret Hodge: I think that I know the answer to that one: the numbers started rocketing upwards when the hon. Gentleman's party was in government, and the unemployment figures appear to have been massaged during that period. In the nine years in which we have been in government, the number of people starting to claim incapacity benefit has decreased by one third, and, for the first time ever, the total number of people on incapacity benefit has started to fall—the total has decreased by 58,000 in the past year, which is a move in the right direction. Our further reform proposals will   provide many people in the hon. Gentleman's
 
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constituency with the opportunity to work, which is an opportunity that they did not have under the Conservative Government.

15. Mr. Graham Allen (Nottingham, North) (Lab): whether he plans to permit those on incapacity benefit to undertake voluntary work; and if he will make a statement. [57332]

The Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform (Margaret Hodge): People receiving incapacity benefit are already able to undertake voluntary work without affecting their entitlement to benefits, and we do not intend to change the situation when we introduce the new employment and support allowance.

Mr. Allen: As the Minister knows, the city of Nottingham is keen to pursue a city strategy on invalidity and incapacity benefit to get some of the 18,000 people on incapacity benefit back into work. Many people who have been provided with cognitive behaviour therapy, which gives people the morale boost that they need to try to get into work, find their first bridge into work through voluntary work. Will the Minister ensure that people continue not to lose benefit for engaging in voluntary work? Will she also consider giving people who engage in voluntary work a small amount of extra money to encourage them to take the first step on the long road to getting full-time work?

Margaret Hodge: I congratulate my hon. Friend on his work as chair of One Nottingham in tackling some of the issues raised by worklessness in his constituency. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, who gets around the country, visited Nottingham on a previous Thursday and Friday, when he was impressed by the ongoing work. My hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, North (Mr. Allen) is right to stress that undertaking voluntary work is central to building the confidence of people who are locked into dependency on incapacity benefit. The rules are flexible, which enables incapacity benefit claimants to earn some money—for one year, they can earn up to £81 a week—and we constantly reflect on how we can build people's confidence.

Mr. Henry Bellingham (North-West Norfolk) (Con): As the Minister is probably aware, because she knows my constituency quite well, many voluntary groups there rely on volunteers who are on incapacity benefit. Is not there an argument that some of those volunteers should be paid expenses for the work that they do?

Margaret Hodge: I am slightly puzzled by the hon. Gentleman's question. If there is a problem with expenses being paid, he should write to me about it. As I understand it, under the current rules there is no cap at all on the number of hours of voluntary work that those on incapacity benefit can undertake. Clearly, they need to be covered for the expenses that they incur in undertaking that valuable work in their communities.

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