Welfare Reform Bill

My Lords, for a number of years I was the chairman of my party’s disability group. I think I know two things for certain in an uncertain world. The first is that the Minister is in a tremendous bind with public expenditure; we cannot forget that. The second, as has been so eloquently said by the noble Lord, Lord Wigley, and others, is that people with disabled children face quite remarkable additional costs, which are often difficult to calculate. We have to try to bring those two points together in the most humane way we can. Perhaps I could gloss it for the Minister by saying that if there is any degree of flexibility within the envelope he has, this is perhaps an area where it would be most effectively applied and would do the most good. I bring to the Committee’s attention a matter of comparatively recent provenance. I have taken over from my noble friend Lord Newton of Braintree—just yesterday—the chair of the advisory group of the charity National Energy Action. There is a particularly acute situation with energy prices rising so quickly. The Committee will have seen estimates that have been made during the course of the week about the likely impact of the rise in energy prices on families generally. Significant numbers may find themselves in fuel poverty shortly, unless the price situation is mitigated or reversed. It is self-evident to anyone who has looked at this area that where there are disabled people in a household, whether adults or children, people tend to face higher costs. That fact plays into the current situation. There are no easy answers here, and I appreciate the Minister’s position. He should see what he can do now. Given the prospective appraisal that he gave at Second Reading, if and when there is some opportunity for mitigation, even if it cannot be done now, it would be appropriate to exercise a little flexibility and support in this area. I have been fortunate, personally, in not having had children with significant disabilities that I have had to wrestle with. It is difficult enough raising a family in straightforward and relatively privileged conditions. It is very much more difficult when those circumstances do not apply.