23/10/2011 The Politics Show West


23/10/2011

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Hello from the West. Another week and another apology from the North

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Somerset MP Liam Fox. Disability campaigners say changes could force

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1786 seconds

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Hello. The former Defence Secretary admitted he made mistakes but could

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other MPs be at risk because of their links with lobbyists?

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The local disabled campaigners who fear cuts to their benefits will

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mean they cannot afford to live. High levels of suicide, situations

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where people will find themselves Welcome. He pledged his loyalty to

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north Somerset and Liam Fox will now have more time to serve his

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constituents but his first appearance on the backbenches did

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little to calm the controversy surrounding his departure coming

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just hours of a pretty damning report into his actions as Defence

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Secretary. What are the lessons? Dr Liam Fox.

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For the first time in 18 years, he is just a backbencher. Liam Fox,

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his voice charged with emotion, was not going quietly. Last week's

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media frenzy was not unprecedented. I believe there was, from some

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quarters, a personal vindictiveness and even hatred that should worry

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all of us. But it was the revelations that forced an official

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investigation and some chastening Commons. Report said there had been

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an inappropriate blurring of lines and overall a failure of judgment

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by the Secretary of State for Defence who had ignored warnings

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from civil servants. One who has worked closely with him is south-

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west will share MP and another former doctor involved in military

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matters. I can tell you he valued this job enormously. He always

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wanted to do it and was doing extremely well. Perhaps, he told me,

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civil servants could have done more. It is a Minister's responsibility

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and officials simply advise but one wonders also whether those warnings

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were sounded loudly enough and a suspect we might hear more of that

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in the weeks to come. At the root of his downfall was the big private

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money paid so that Adam Werritty could accompany him around the

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world. Was it cash for influence? David Cameron has spoken out about

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that. There is a big issue we can no longer ignore - the next big

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scandal waiting to happen. It is an issue that crosses party lines and

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has treated our politics for too long. It exposes the far too cosy

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relationship -- tainted our politics - between business and

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money. The Coalition agreement to me to does to introduce a statutory

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register of lobbyists introducing greater transparency. Remember the

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man's defiance when the story first hit the headlines? I asked the

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Cabinet secretary to see if there has been any breach. I have asked

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the Permanent Secretary to look into any of these wild allegations

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and I am very happy to stand by that. His seeming reluctance to

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admit the truth made things worse. It is often the case that not

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coming out with an answer straight away leads to more trouble and

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relatively small things then become very damaging and it is a less than

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those of us in politics need to learn and relearn and remind

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ourselves of. It doesn't make the original offence any more or less

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serious. At least there is one thing Liam Fox does not need to

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worry about. In his constituency this week, I found no realistic

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moves by local Tories to unseat him. The association is 100% supportive

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of him and I think he has a lot of support around here. Most people,

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after a couple of weeks, will support him as their local MP.

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will be no small comfort as a Liam Fox gets used to more time at home.

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Joining me today is the Conservative MP for Stroud, Neil

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Carmichael and that local MP. Any sympathy with Dr Fox? I certainly

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think he had to resign and I think there are a lot a lot - much awful

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lot of questions to answer. His resignation should not draw a line

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under them investigation. At the heart of it is the issue he may

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have breached security by taking his friend on these trips but the

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key thing is there were very wealthy people prepared to fund

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these travels and people who had perhaps a vested interest in

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foreign policy outcomes and interests in the defence industry.

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We need to get to the bottom of that. It might be that his friend

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had that sort of power? I suspect he personally did not have that

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much influence. I don't really know what kind of influence he had but

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the fact that people were prepared to fund this to the tune of

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hundreds of thousands of pounds, we need to get to the bottom of that.

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Do you agree with the Prime Minister that the relationship was

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perhaps too cosy between MPs and business and cash? That has been

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the case in the past. He has now resigned and everyone has

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understood he accepts, perhaps belatedly, that he made mistakes

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and the matter has been dealt with. George Young told parliament what

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would happen next and that is quite comforting I think. More regulation

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about the role of lobbyists? Certainly what we want is a proper

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list or register, a statutory register. I have called for that in

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Parliament and we need to be reminded that we need to get on

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with this. Why? I we do not want this situation to happen again.

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you think There others in your party doing it? I very much hope

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not but the public needs to be assured we have a grip on this.

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have recently been promoted. Are the lobbyists circling and get some

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favours from you? Lobbying covers a huge range. I have always worked

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closely with the organisations like Save the children, World Vision on

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issues to do with child poverty. They are lobbyists in the sense

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that they have a cause they want you to espouse but I don't think

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anyone would say I shouldn't be associated with them. Then you get

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commercial lobbyists or corporate affairs people. So why it is -- is

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it OK to listen to for vested interests from a charity but not

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others? Not all lobbying is bad. The key issue is transparency.

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Recently I met with Gatwick Airport because they wanted me to lobby on

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air passenger duty but a think the danger isn't so much about those

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sort of meetings. A register of lobbyists would only go a certain

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way towards covering that. The danger is the informal contacts

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like dinners with chief executives and that will not be reported in

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the register and that is where the real influence over government

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policy happens. When they have been five Defence Secretary's in six

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years, you would spend a lot of money lobbying one and then he is

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off! Liam is the 7th since we went to Afghanistan, which is a bit too

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frequent eight turnover. I hear the point about informal contacts. A

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register is going to be difficult because we have to have definitions

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and you have touched on that because they will be some people

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who think themselves as a lobbyist but others will be less Clear.

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Friends? Absolutely, so we have to think very carefully about that.

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That's why political reform is necessary. It will be difficult but

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we will be contacted all of the time as that is what is happen --

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happens when you are an MP. Michael Gove's private office being funded

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by donors has been in the news this week. And trade union funding for

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Labour? That is very public. Let us have a balanced discussion. We have

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Disabled people living here have told us they fear changes to their

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benefits will force many below the poverty line leaving them unable to

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afford to live and work. The Government's Welfare Reform Bill

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will be voted on in the coming weeks and it proposes a 20% cut to

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the disability living allowance. Disability groups say they are the

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forgotten poor and the changes must be stopped.

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Meet Magritte young. Four years ago her life changed for ever. My right

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I began to lose sight. In hospital, my right eye was OK but my left eye

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was practically gone. A white stick his head new companion. She has to

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wear a badge because of her visibility and now has extra costs

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for things she took for granted before paid for through her

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disability living allowance. I am unable to do my hair. I also need

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my nails cutting. I cannot do things like that. She says she

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cannot afford to lose with any less money. I feel so frightened and

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scared that I go to bed thinking about the allowance and how my life

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has been affected and how it might be affected from now on. Could you

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cope without the money? No, I really couldn't. For many disabled

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people, simply getting to a shopping High Street involves

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getting a taxi or bus so the dilemma for politicians is how to

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cut 20% of the budget whilst protecting the most vulnerable.

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Iain Duncan Smith has said he wants to clamp down on those cheating the

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benefits system and to make it cheaper and fairer. DLA is a

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lifeline for many but it isn't just a lifeline. It isn't working

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effectively enough in its current form. So it will be cut by 20% and

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simplified to only to tears of our wards. Disabled people's needs will

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be reassessed as their circumstances change. The living

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allowance is meant to be a contribution towards the extra

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costs of disability. They are not scroungers, they are in genuine

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need. The level of fraud of this benefit is under 1%. That is

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according to the governments themselves. There is a lot of

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misrepresentation of that issue in the press but the reality is, all

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the people who receive the benefit, it needed. Those who will lose out

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will be in genuine hardship as a result. With a reduction in money,

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disabled groups like this one Fiat those with severe physical

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impairments will get more than those with less obvious needs.

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Hoop around the table gets disability living allowance? All of

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year. Andy all get the highest rates? I get the Middle rate.

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someone took your money away, how would you manage to live? David

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Cameron said, when he had a daughter with cerebral palsy like

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me, he said that people with this at -- disabilities, why can't they

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have more money and he has gone back on his word. You are cutting a

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bit of money to say it 20% but the impact on a person is 50% of their

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income. In two or three years will we be at crisis point with people

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unable to pay bills, been isolated and lonely. We are talking about

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going into big institutions. government had promised those who

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are disabled and genuinely in need will not suffer but their promises

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have not reassured all. I would like to think we would not see

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anything but in reality, I think we will see, and I hate to say this,

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higher levels of suicide, people in real neglect, effectively the

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emergency End of social care will suddenly burgeoned. There will be

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more hospital admissions because lots of things which have enabled

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people to keep going, keep a job and their health, those things

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we'll go. There will be a cumulative negative impact on the

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emergency End of health and social care.

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Still with me are art to MPs. It is obvious looking at the internet and

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talking to disabled people that there is a lot of genuine fear

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about this. Are they right to be frightened? No, they are not. As

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Iain Duncan Smith said, lots of people to benefit from delay and

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the transition to the new rate, the personal independence allowance,

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will get support if they need it and some will get more support and

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that is a point to get across. the budget is being cut by 20% or

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�2 billion? Yes, so there will be losers, when they? Some people have

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not been assessed for a very long time. It is important to get a fix

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on who needs it and he doesn't. did it happen that, over an eight-

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year period, the number of recipients increased by over a

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million? I think there was a recognition that people with

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disabilities need additional financial help and that is what the

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disability living allowance is about. The fact that there was

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take-up of that is good. As the report said, the fraud rates on

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this are not 0.5%. So if the government is cutting the payments,

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they have to be losers, as you say. Will there be some people who were

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getting this payment and entitled to it and then they find they will

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have to make ends meet without it? That is with all the other cost-of-

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living rises going through the roof. Everyone will have to be reassessed

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from 2013. That might be quite frightening for a disabled or sick

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person but, on the other hand, if they are getting �6,000 a year tax-

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free, the taxpayer is entitled to say if that person is entitled to

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it? There are two issues with that. It is difficult to assess some

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people on a short-term basis because, if you are blind, you will

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be blind until the end of your life in all likelihood. There is a

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question as to where the need to carry out assessments on everybody.

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But there is real concern about the way assessments are carried out at

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the moment for work capability and whether disabled people can go to

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work. That is working badly and there are some horror stories about

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some people being assessed as fit to work when they are terminally

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ill. We need to make sure the assessments are working properly

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and are not penalising people. many people will go back into work

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and are there the jobs around? Gerrard jobs around. I note the

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circumstances... We have had disappointing unemployment figures

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but if people who want to work can work they should be allowed to so

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we want to remove the false ceiling to remove people going into work.

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But the assessments have received consultations to make sure the

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assessments are fair and that they consider all aspects and that the

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person feels comfortable about them. The consultation has just finished

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and the new process for the new rates will be more reasonable and

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that is right. If someone is assessed and they feel aggrieved....

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I assessing 2.5 million people will cost a lot of money, won't it? Yes,

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but they will not all happen at once and people don't need to feel

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worried because the package is all about being considerate and

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incorporating all the aspects of a person's lifestyle and conditions.

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Thank you both very much indeed. Finally, David Cameron has said he

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wants more women in top jobs and this week there was good news for

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one of the West's rising stars. Claire Perry, the Conservative MP

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for Devizes has been promoted to be the Parliamentary Private Secretary

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to the new Defence Secretary. A step up for the MP who was only

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elected in 2010. There are lots of people who are

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never permanent secretaries and go on to great things but it is a nice

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step. I'm very happy to do the job. Even the 10,500 troops to live in

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the constituency and their families it is great to think I can serve

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them even better by being involved in the MoD.

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