Welfare Reform Bill

It is a great pleasure to be able to follow the hon. Member for Aberdeen, South (Miss Begg), because she has done something quite remarkable. She has again raised the profile of the need for blind people to receive the higher rate of mobility allowance. It is a cause that has been close to my heart, too, for a very long time. In fact, 20 years ago, similar action that I took in this place produced an agreement by the Government to provide blind people with the lower rate. I have been fighting for the higher rate ever since, and the hon. Lady has given the issue a high profile. I believe that we have now convinced Ministers that raising the allowance is appropriate. The difficulty, as usual with these things, is finding the money. To reiterate what is at stake, the right hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside (Mr. Blunkett), who is no longer in his place, is an example of what can be done by blind people given the right opportunities and the right support in the community. He is a wonderful example to all blind people of what they can achieve. Once one considers the matter, it becomes obvious that blind people find it very difficult to get into work, let alone back into work, if they cannot travel independently from their homes to a place of work. Unless they have somebody to escort them, they cannot go on buses, because they cannot see which bus is coming along. They cannot use the tube or the trains that we use. The only means of transport available to blind people, unless they are escorted by somebody else, is taxis or private hire vehicles, which are extremely expensive. The cost deters most of them from even trying to get into work as it means that the prospect is not viable. The Government have clearly accepted the argument in principle, but they have not yet made a further leap and said, ““Yes, this is something that we must do as part of our determination to get people into work””. I suggest to them that it would not necessarily be as expensive as they have suggested. They have suggested that it might cost £45 million. It might, although that is higher than the estimate of the Royal National Institute of Blind People. However, we must offset against the costs the economic benefit that many blind people would create if they were to go back into work. Instead of depending largely on the state, they would become independent and create their own taxable revenue. They would pay national insurance, and a lot of money would flow back to the Government. I am not at all sure whether the Government have considered that in sufficient detail. Were they to do so, they might find that the cost was actually relatively negligible. Given the amount that they are now spending on all sorts of other things that are in many cases less important, I hope they might be able to accept an amendment in Committee. I have established with the Clerks that such an amendment would fall within the scope of the Bill's long title, and would not require any changes. The Secretary of State has said that he believes we might be able to find ways of achieving such an outcome, and there have already been extensive discussions between the RNIB and the Government on what the threshold of disability should be to qualify for the higher rate. One can understand that blindness is not an absolute, as some people have relatively little impairment in seeing and others are totally blind. Some point along the spectrum will have to be chosen at which people will qualify for the higher rate of allowance. We can discuss that, and we may be able to achieve agreement. I honestly believe that if the Government are sincere in their desire to put more people who suffer from disabilities back into employment, it is incumbent on them to consider this very good and simple way of doing so.