Department for Transport written question – answered at on 5 September 2016.
Michael Dugher
Labour, Barnsley East
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to include having dementia and Alzheimer's Disease as criteria for (a) eligibility without further assessment or (b) eligibility subject to further assessment for the Blue Badge Scheme; and if he will make a statement.
Michael Dugher
Labour, Barnsley East
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when his officials last updated the Blue Badge Scheme local authority guidance; whether he plans to update that guidance; and if he will make a statement.
Andrew Jones
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The extent to which a specific condition affects people will vary. If we were to provide automatic eligibility without further assessment by virtue of having dementia it may not reflect genuine need.
However, the ‘subject to further assessment’ criteria do not preclude the issue of badges to people with mental/cognitive disabilities. Any permanent and substantial disability may qualify for a badge if it causes “very considerable difficulty in walking”. It is for the local authority to assess the degree of challenge on a case-by-case basis.
The guidance was last updated in October 2014. There are no plans to update it at this time.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
