Welfare Reform Bill

I support the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Thomas. I can assure noble Lords that there are indeed increasing numbers of children with severe impairments who require the use of ventilation and feeding equipment. In fact, I am only four stone but when I bring all my junk with me—my ventilator, my ripple bed, my special chair and my medication—I need a truck to allow me to go on holiday. Children of two and three with spinal-muscular atrophy and very severe forms of neuro-muscular impairment are now being ventilated from the age of six months. Some types of ventilating equipment are light and others are very heavy; it depends on what you require. Feeding equipment is incredibly heavy to carry around because of the bags that it has to be put in. I support the amendment because we know there are a small but increasing number of very severely impaired children who have the right to go wherever they want and to have the freedom of mobility that their brothers and sisters have. I believe that this is low cost and involves very small numbers.