I beg to move,

That leave be given to bring in a Bill to require any medical practitioner who diagnoses a terminal illness in a patient to inform the Secretary of State;
to require the Secretary of State to give the patient information about his entitlement to, and a claim form for, attendance allowance and disability living allowance;
and for connected purposes.

I should like to outline my personal experience, which has urged me to try to introduce the Bill. My husband Steve died of cancer 14 years ago. At the time we were a family with three small children and, having had nothing to do with the benefits system, I was unaware that there were benefits to which we were entitled, which would have helped us at a difficult time.

Anyone who has been through the earth-shattering diagnosis of terminal illness will say that money is the last thing on their mind. However, it helps enormously with all the bills that accrue when nursing somebody who is terminally ill. Many people choose to die at home. It is an enormous help to know that some support is available with, for example, cleaning, personal care and extra food that is especially palatable for someone who feels ill.

Over the years I have met many people who, like me, were unaware of the benefits to which they were entitled. There does not appear to be one particular person or delivery system to take responsibility for ensuring that patients and their families know that there are benefits that they are entitled to claim speedily. Consequently, I tabled an amendment to the Health Bill, which we considered recently, and I am promoting the Bill that we are considering now.

Coincidentally, days after I had done that, the Public Accounts Committee report entitled "Tackling Cancer: Improving the patient journey" was published, and I shall give the House a brief summary of its findings.

The report found that terminally ill cancer patients were often not made aware of the non-means-tested disability benefits that they could have claimed to alleviate financial hardship. That was estimated by Macmillan Cancer Relief to involve more than £100 million over a six-month period. The report also highlighted the fact that three quarters of patients were given no information on financial benefits by the NHS or anyone else. However, research published in the report showed that nearly half those people would have welcomed such advice.

Research carried out by Macmillan Cancer Relief in 2004 estimated that in 2001, terminally ill patients with six months or less to live failed to claim benefits worth £106 million over a six-month period. A cynic might ask whether the Government do not want people to claim those benefits, but I do not believe that that is the case, because they have put in place measures to ensure speedy delivery, which is welcome. What we do not have in place, however, is a system for the delivery of information. Hon. Members across the House are worried that no one has been given responsibility for this, either now or historically. The problem has existed for a long time.

The figures show that many people are missing out, yet the benefits are easy to claim if people know that they are there. We have a speedy delivery system in place. I met the Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Mrs. McGuire, this week to discuss the matter, and I am grateful to her for giving me her time. Everyone says that we should be able to achieve this; it is just a question of knowing how to.

Unfortunately, the report shows that in the 14 years since my husband died, nothing much has changed to ensure that information is given quickly and sensitively to patients. A tripartite group, comprising representatives of the Department for Work and Pensions, Macmillan Cancer Relief and the Department of Health, is looking at the issue. This is a sensitive topic involving health and benefits, and I want a firm assurance that the information will at least be given to patients, whether they choose to use it or not. At present, many people are denied that choice through ignorance. We must not allow our sensitivity to such issues to result in people not dying well. A compassionate society would make this a burning priority.

Mr. Jenkins, who served on the Committee, observed that he believed the Department for Work and Pensions should be leading on this matter. The hon. Gentleman also made the very point that I am making today when he said that

"there should in effect be a package for the patient and boxes which should be ticked to show that they have now received the benefits advice".

Sir Nigel Crisp, who until yesterday was the chief executive at the Department of Health, accepted in his evidence that the system was "not good enough". That is something of an understatement, given that year after year, people are dying in reduced circumstances, when that need not happen. Sir Nigel also acknowledged that

"not enough people who were entitled to benefit actually knew about it or were helped to find it. We do not have strong enough systems in place to do it."

The national cancer director, Professor Mike Richards of St. Thomas' hospital, also gave evidence to the Public Accounts Committee, and he agreed that this was a big problem. So we all agree that the problem exists; it has been firmly identified. Professor Richards said in his evidence that he expected the paperwork to be rolled out by November 2005, and that the tripartite group would have agreed a way forward by the end of 2005. However, that has not happened. That date has come and gone, and no system is in place. We have had more talk, more water has passed under the bridge, and more people have died.

I spoke with the Minister earlier this week, and I really welcomed our conversation. I was given assurances that she shared my desire to ensure that patients and their families were informed of the available benefits. Unfortunately, however, while discussions are ongoing with the tripartite group, the Government do not appear to be in a position to say that a clear line of responsibility for ensuring delivery of information has been established. I keep being giving plenty of reasons why things cannot be done, but on behalf of terminally ill patients, I am now demanding that someone starts to give us some solutions.

Talk will not pay the bills. Talk will not pay for food that people find palatable while undergoing chemotherapy. Talk will not pay for someone to sit with a patient while his wife goes to collect their young family from school. My Bill proposes that a GP or other medical practitioner should ensure that the system is at least triggered. After all, those are the health professionals most closely connected with the patient and their family. They are the professionals needed to sign the DS1500 form that will trigger the speedy delivery of the benefit. Doctors are paid by the DWP for each form filled in, but the patient or their representative has to require the doctor to issue and fill in the form. How can they do that if they are unaware of the benefit? This is a miserable and frustrating cycle of ignorance and deprivation.

I propose that the GP or other medical practitioner, after fully discussing the patient's illness with them or their representative, should be obliged to trigger a request for an information pack to be sent to the patient or their representative. The forms should be simple and sensitively worded so that the patient or their representative can decide whether to choose to use the system instead of languishing in ignorance. Let us not allow our sensitivity to a patient's plight to give us an excuse for inaction.

New GP contracts were introduced in April 2004. That might have been an ideal time to have considered this additional small responsibility. After all, GPs are paid to sign the forms, and this is just an extension of the same service. We can trigger the delivery of a TV licence form to people's homes, so it should not be beyond the wit of man to trigger the delivery of a pack of information on benefits to those who are terminally ill. As it is often the GP or medical practitioner who is most closely involved, this is a simple and obvious solution.

I commend the Bill to the House.

Question put and agreed to.

Bill ordered to be brought in by Anne Main, Mr. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Jim Dobbin, Mr. Frank Field, Mike Penning, Andrew Selous and Grant Shapps.