Digital Switchover (Disclosure of Information) Bill

I thank the House for the opportunity to speak to these amendments. When the hon. Member for Bath (Mr. Foster) moved the relevant amendment in Committee, where the Minister resisted it, he accurately predicted that the Minister would return with something similar, but he was inaccurate in the sense that he said that the Minister would claim credit for the amendment. It is much to the Minister’s credit that he has singled out the hon. Member for Chesterfield (Paul Holmes) for being so tenacious in ensuring that this point was debated. It is correct, as the Minister says, that a considerable number of blind or partially sighted people are not identified on the database of the Department for Work and Pensions because the information is held by local authorities. As we have heard, it is estimated that something like 20 per cent. of those eligible can be identified only through local authorities. That is some 50,000 to 60,000 people. I am sure that the whole House will join me in saying that it is incredibly important for those people, in particular, that the amendment goes through. There are a number of technical points that I am not sure that I fully understand. One is a point that I raised in Committee and that was made to me by the Disability Rights Commission. There is a difference between somebody who is registered blind and somebody who is certified blind. Will the amendment ensure that those who are certified blind—which as I understand it is a stage before being registered as blind or partially sighted—will be eligible for the relief? The DRC also said that there are something like 75,000 people who are neither registered nor certified blind or partially sighted, but who are in need of the assistance. I simply raise that issue. I am afraid that I can offer no particular solution to the question of how to target those people. I would be interested to hear the Minister’s points. When we discussed the changes in Committee, the Minister said that he had been in discussion with the Department of Health and the Department for Constitutional Affairs. At that point, he said that the Department of Health was resisting the changes because, as I understand it, it said that data protection legislation could not be overcome. I am sure that it would be of immense value to Opposition Members—if not for this amendment, for future amendments—to learn how those objections were overcome.