39.
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the implications of the recent report "The Way Ahead" for deaf people.
A number of proposals set out in "The Way Ahead: benefits for disabled people" will benefit people who are deaf. The new disability allowance, which will extend help to less severely disabled people of working age or below, will benefit people who have mobility or care needs. People disabled early in life who have not been able to build up a national insurance contributions record will gain from the introduction of an age related addition in severe disablement allowance; and those who are partially capable of work will be helped by the new disability employment credit, which will make it easier for disabled people to take up or remain in work. Some deaf people win have already benefited from the extension of mobility allowance to people who are both deaf and blind, introduced in April 1990 as part of "The Way Ahead" proposals.