To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what has been the change between (a) 2015 and (b) 2025 in the numbers of those entitled to the Higher Rate Mobility Component of Disability Living Allowance and the Enhanced Rate of the Mobility Component.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what has been the change between (a) 2015 and (b) 2025 in the numbers of those entitled to the Higher Rate Mobility Component of Disability Living Allowance and the Enhanced Rate of the Mobility Component.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information sharing arrangements are in place between local authorities and his Department when a child enters foster care; what steps his Department is taking to ensure that benefit entitlement is reviewed promptly where such a change in circumstances may...

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information sharing arrangements are in place between local authorities and his Department when a child enters foster care; what steps his Department is taking to ensure that benefit entitlement is reviewed promptly where such a change in circumstances may...

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases of overpayment to a birth parent of (a) Disability Living Allowance for children and (b) Carer's Allowance have been identified in each of the last five years, in cases where the child has entered foster care.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases of overpayment to a birth parent of (a) Disability Living Allowance for children and (b) Carer's Allowance have been identified in each of the last five years, in cases where the child has entered foster care.

Motion that this House has considered the potential merits of removing the qualifying period for Disability Living Allowance for children. Agreed to on question.

Motion that this House has considered the potential merits of removing the qualifying period for Disability Living Allowance for children. Agreed to on question.

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the potential merits of removing the qualifying period for Disability Living Allowance for children.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Butler. It is right and fitting that I start this debate where it all began for me, with dear...

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the potential merits of removing the qualifying period for Disability Living Allowance for children.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Butler. It is right and fitting that I start this debate where it all began for me, with dear...

I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing the debate. It is debates such as this that remind us of our job as MPs. Does she agree that when a family receive a devastating diagnosis, whether that is of a terminal illness, a severe disability or an aggressive childhood cancer, the...

I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing the debate. It is debates such as this that remind us of our job as MPs. Does she agree that when a family receive a devastating diagnosis, whether that is of a terminal illness, a severe disability or an aggressive childhood cancer, the...

I absolutely agree. Too often, the financial impacts of a cancer diagnosis are forgotten. People think about the hospital visits, the sickness and the endless tablets, but a disability or serious condition such as cancer has an impact on every single part of someone’s life. Following a diagnosis, families immediately...

I absolutely agree. Too often, the financial impacts of a cancer diagnosis are forgotten. People think about the hospital visits, the sickness and the endless tablets, but a disability or serious condition such as cancer has an impact on every single part of someone’s life. Following a diagnosis, families immediately...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her incredibly powerful speech. She is right that this is not a necessity; it can be addressed. Does she agree that the Department for Work and Pensions needs to ensure that parents get support from day one so that they can address...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her incredibly powerful speech. She is right that this is not a necessity; it can be addressed. Does she agree that the Department for Work and Pensions needs to ensure that parents get support from day one so that they can address...

I absolutely agree. Cancer is actually one of the clearest diagnoses that someone can get from day one.

Cancer does not wait, yet families have to. The three-month qualifying period does not reflect the realities that families face. In Mabel’s case, the family were informed that they would not qualify for...

I absolutely agree. Cancer is actually one of the clearest diagnoses that someone can get from day one.

Cancer does not wait, yet families have to. The three-month qualifying period does not reflect the realities that families face. In Mabel’s case, the family were informed that they would not qualify for...

I congratulate the hon. Member on securing this debate. Does she agree that there is a strong case for greater flexibility in rapidly diagnosed cases where a clinician has already identified a severe, serious and long-lasting condition, and that in such cases a qualifying period can be unnecessary, bureaucratic and...

I congratulate the hon. Member on securing this debate. Does she agree that there is a strong case for greater flexibility in rapidly diagnosed cases where a clinician has already identified a severe, serious and long-lasting condition, and that in such cases a qualifying period can be unnecessary, bureaucratic and...

Absolutely. The bureaucratic system is failing families, but these issues could easily be resolved if medical evidence could be used instead of the qualifying period. I urge the Minister to look at ways in which medical evidence and research can be used in DLA to make the system better for...

Absolutely. The bureaucratic system is failing families, but these issues could easily be resolved if medical evidence could be used instead of the qualifying period. I urge the Minister to look at ways in which medical evidence and research can be used in DLA to make the system better for...

I am delighted to serve under your chairship, Ms Butler. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Sherwood Forest (Michelle Welsh) on securing this important debate. She has made a particularly valuable, thoughtful and passionate contribution this morning, and I join her in wishing Mabel, her mum Rachael and...

I am delighted to serve under your chairship, Ms Butler. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Sherwood Forest (Michelle Welsh) on securing this important debate. She has made a particularly valuable, thoughtful and passionate contribution this morning, and I join her in wishing Mabel, her mum Rachael and...

If I have correctly understood what the Minister is saying, if a consultant, GP or other doctor sent a letter confirming that the condition started way before the application was made, that would be the qualifying period, and that would be done by a medical person. Am I reading it...

If I have correctly understood what the Minister is saying, if a consultant, GP or other doctor sent a letter confirming that the condition started way before the application was made, that would be the qualifying period, and that would be done by a medical person. Am I reading it...

It starts with the issue of need. The point at which the child became eligible for disability living allowance marks the start of the qualifying period, even if that precedes the point at which parents make a claim. Understandably, when parents are in very difficult circumstances, their first thought is...

It starts with the issue of need. The point at which the child became eligible for disability living allowance marks the start of the qualifying period, even if that precedes the point at which parents make a claim. Understandably, when parents are in very difficult circumstances, their first thought is...

In the light of the fact that we are moving into a new era of a can-do Government, will the Minister look, together with clinicians, at the opportunity and benefit of delivering DLA from day one, and then bring the evidence back to the House?

In the light of the fact that we are moving into a new era of a can-do Government, will the Minister look, together with clinicians, at the opportunity and benefit of delivering DLA from day one, and then bring the evidence back to the House?

I will perhaps come later in my speech to what the Government are planning to do.

I am pleased to tell colleagues that between October 2024 and March 2025, the Department recruited and redeployed in excess of 100 case managers to improve clearance times for child DLA new claims. Between 1...

I will perhaps come later in my speech to what the Government are planning to do.

I am pleased to tell colleagues that between October 2024 and March 2025, the Department recruited and redeployed in excess of 100 case managers to improve clearance times for child DLA new claims. Between 1...

Social security benefits are available to help with the extra costs arising from a disability or health condition. For each of the 'extra-costs' benefits, claimants must usually have satisfied the disability conditions for a period before payment can begin - a 'qualifying period.'

Social security benefits are available to help with the extra costs arising from a disability or health condition. For each of the 'extra-costs' benefits, claimants must usually have satisfied the disability conditions for a period before payment can begin - a 'qualifying period.'

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to apply the findings from the Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment: interim report to Disability Living Allowance in areas where elements of both systems operate in similar ways.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to apply the findings from the Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment: interim report to Disability Living Allowance in areas where elements of both systems operate in similar ways.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to reduce the average processing time between an application being accepted and the first payment for DLA and PIP for children and young people under 25 with cancer.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to reduce the average processing time between an application being accepted and the first payment for DLA and PIP for children and young people under 25 with cancer.

Many young people and children on disability living allowance end up going on to PIP very readily. While it is of course important that people get support, what work is the Secretary of State doing to ensure that those young people are not written off, but given every opportunity to work?

Many young people and children on disability living allowance end up going on to PIP very readily. While it is of course important that people get support, what work is the Secretary of State doing to ensure that those young people are not written off, but given every opportunity to work?