To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security at what age a child in normal physical and mental health will be regarded as not requiring guidance and supervision for the purposes of entitlement to the lower mobility component of disability living allowance; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 20 December 1990]: We have no plans to specify the age at which children normally cease to require guidance or supervision. The aim is to compare the requirements of a disabled child under age 16 with those of a child of the same age in normal physical and mental health. These reduce as children grow older and the Bill currently before Parliament recognises that, eventually, a point is reached when a child in normal physical and mental health will no longer require any guidance or supervision.