Welfare Reform Bill

All 16 amendments are in my name and the names of my hon. Friends; that is, I suppose, the parliamentary equivalent of getting a full house. I do not intend to dwell on each of them in detail, but I wish to explain what they have in common and where the differences lie. In essence, the amendments are an attempt to move the Bill, strong though it is, closer to a social model of disability and to make it less obviously focused on issues of medical assessment and health-related matters. Let me illustrate my point by discussing the first sub-group. Amendments Nos. 79 to 82 would amend clauses 8 and 9, which concern assessments relating to limited capability for work and limited capability for work-related activity. As the Bill is currently drafted, regulations may make provision for such medical examinations as regulations may require. The purpose of the amendments is to remove the commitment that regulations must be limited to defining capability for work or work-related activity according to a medical examination. The point that I am making is similar to that made by the hon. Member for South-West Surrey (Mr. Hunt) in his first contribution to the debate; he did not say that he was articulating the social model of disability, but of course he was. Gone are the days of 12 years ago when finding a Conservative MP who understood the social model of disability was a bit like winning on the pools. Now we are all into the social model of disability, which I welcome. I am being serious, not sarcastic, and I know that the hon. Member for South-West Surrey was not in the House 12 years ago. My serious point is that the whole House seems to have moved towards an understanding that the problems faced by disabled people and those with long-term illnesses in trying to secure employment are not just a medical issue. Medical matters are important, of course, but the whole issue is more important than that. The first four amendments are designed to extend the ability of regulations to include other factors and other types of assessment that may not be medically related. Perhaps I can give a simple example. Let us consider someone with a sight impairment. Assessing such a person’s capability for work-related activity may matter little as far as a medical examination is concerned. A medical examination may not tell us anything at all that we do not already know; it may be of no value in making a serious assessment of whether such an individual is capable of work-related activity. If one talks about assistive technology for people with sight impairments, one is probably getting closer to the nub of the problem. A whole range of circumstances and other factors—in addition to the specific sight impairment—may affect a person’s capability of undertaking work-related activity. I have already referred to assistive technology, but education, skills, training or environmental factors such as access to the workplace may also be relevant, as may other factors within the purview of the employer. Financial support from the Government and whether funding is available for reasonable adjustments are further factors. The main point is quite simple: changing the wording in clauses 8 and 9 to include ““assessment”” rather than ““medical examination”” leaves open the possibility that regulations can investigate and address the relevant factors. If we do not change the wording, we will close off the possibility of taking into account issues that are, in my view, essential to determining whether people have a limited capability for work or for engaging in work-related activity.