25th October 2012: a significant and informative Westeminster Hall debate took place. (For a definition of this type of adjournment debate, see here).
To read a full transcript of the debate, see http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2012-10-25a.319.0 and http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2012-10-25a.339.1
Warning: this may require some stamina and persistence, but will be worth it.
The debate was on the general topic of the reforms to benefits and allowances currently being introduced by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), for implementation over the period 2012 to 2016.
It was introduced by Anne Begg, Chair of the Select Committee on Work and Pensions (which in February 2012 published the report “Government support towards the additional living cost of working-age disabled people”). It was rounded off by a series of statements from the newly appointed minister Esther McVey. In between, several MPs made significant contributions – the debate was apparently particularly well attended.
Whilst initially concentrating on the reform of Disability Living Allowance, the debate widened its scope and covered a range of issues of concern to MPs and relevant to persons with a learning disability and their carers – which is why we encourage you to read the transcript in full.
Anne Beggwound up the debate : “Jane Ellison rightly pointed out that not all disabled people who receive DLA are vulnerable, but—this is a big ‘but’—the most vulnerable in our society are all disabled and will all qualify for DLA. That is why the Government must get this right. That is why the Select Committee must do its job of scrutinising the Government’s proposals, which does mean ringing alarm bells and asking lots and lots of questions. DLA has been an extremely useful benefit and has helped to transform lives. PIP must do the same, which means that the assessment must be sensitive and supportive so that disabled people have the wherewithal to continue to be all that they can be, be that a Paralympian, an MP or a person incapable of any independent movement. It is imperative that the Government get this right. If they do not, we will turn the clock back to a time when disabled people were neither seen nor heard, and we cannot let that happen.”