I move amendment No. 8:
In page 8, between lines 27 and 28, to insert the following:
"(d) rendering part of the house suitable for independent or semi-independent occupation by an aged person or aged persons sharing or proposing to share the house with relatives or other persons prescribed in regulations.".
This amendment, with others tabled on Committee Stage, addressed a key issue in the housing area, one which will grow as the years go by, that is, housing for the elderly. We cannot discuss the housing policy for the elderly in isolation without considering the impact of other Government rules and regulations on housing matters and, in particular, social welfare rules.
At present an old person living alone is entitled to a living alone allowance and usually to a free television licence for a black and white set, an electricity allowance, free telephone rental and, perhaps, one or two other benefits. If a family member goes to live with an elderly person living alone those benefits are lost to the elderly person. Older people, therefore, resist taking members of their family in to live with them, even though in many cases the elderly person badly needs someone to live with and look after him or her.
Apart from getting feeble, elderly people living alone are often frightened because of the crime problem yet the social welfare rules regarding living alone allowances frequently make them reluctant to take in members of their family who may be in need of housing or who may be taking up other local authority housing.
The amendment proposes the addition of a paragraph that would give the Minister a discretion to extend the provisions of section 5 so that work may be done by or on behalf of local authorities to assist in rendering part of a house suitable for independent or semi-independent living accommodation for an aged person who is sharing or proposing to share the rest of the house with close relatives or other persons prescribed in the regulations.
This is one of a series of amendments designed to try to help old people who are living alone. First, we should try to minimise the number of old people who ultimately have to seek accommodation in a hospital or a nursing home. Second, the aim should be to relieve old people of fear by having others live with them and third, we hope to relieve them of loneliness. Fourth, it is hoped they will receive the kind of assistance and attention they need while retaining a modicum of privacy and independence within their own home and also retaining the benefits that they would otherwise forego under social welfare rules.
I should like to have more time to explore the whole question of care and housing for the elderly because, as any public representative knows, this is becoming a more acute issue. I hope the Minister accepts this amendment which does not impose any duty on the Minister but merely gives him a discretion.