Hansard

Thank you. I welcome the opportunity to speak today. I have one point of immediate clarification on Dr Simpson’s question about children with learning disability: yes—for the avoidance of doubt, I confirm that they would be covered in the circumstances outlined. Now I turn to the other areas that Dr Simpson raised. The decision to lay these amendment regulations before Parliament was based on a recommendation from a working group set up by Transport Scotland. The working group, made up of representatives of disabled people’s organisations, local authorities and healthcare professionals, recommended to me that eligibility be extended to people with a diagnosed mental disorder, initially on a pilot basis to allow the impact of the change to be monitored and to ascertain how a change could be effected on a permanent basis. Convener, I will say at the outset that I do not like some of the terminology that is used, but we have to use it as it is already understood—“mental disorder” is one example of terminology that we may not be too keen on but which we have to use. 13:30 I am grateful to Dr Simpson for highlighting two areas of concern. First, he has identified that those who receive free personal care and reside in a residential care home lose their entitlement to attendance allowance after 28 days and so would be ineligible for a blue badge. It is not possible to determine exactly how many people that would be because not all people in that situation would meet the eligibility descriptor or want to apply for a badge. However, Dr Simpson’s concerns were discussed by the working group, including Alzheimer Scotland, last week, and it felt that people in that situation—such as those with severe dementia—would often be eligible for a badge on mobility grounds and that some of them would be unable to leave the care home at all. Therefore, the working group felt that at this stage it would be appropriate to proceed with the pilot as planned. I do not believe that Dr Simpson’s second concern, relating to people in receipt of either NHS continuing healthcare or hospital-based complex clinical care, is a significant issue. People in that situation are no different from anyone else who, by being in hospital for a considerable length of time, has their benefits stopped. It should be noted that blue badges cannot be awarded for a period of less than 12 months and indeed that, during the pilot, badges will be awarded for a fixed term of one year. One of the reasons why the working group recommended a pilot was because it is not possible to determine exactly how many people will apply for badges. By running an evaluation alongside the pilot, we are looking to test how eligibility is determined, the impact on applicants and potential applicants, and the blue badge scheme as a whole. That will help the working group and me determine how to effect a change on a permanent basis. Finally, a number of people have been very interested in moving on with this pilot study so that we can take the matter forward. I encourage the committee to make progress so that we can extend eligibility and make the progress that we all want.