Oral Answers to Questions

Julie Cooper Excerpts

Wednesday 13th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I add my personal congratulations to my hon. Friend on his knighthood. I absolutely agree with him about the importance of ensuring that the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire is able to provide the truth, to get to the answers of exactly why what happened happened and to ensure that justice is provided for the victims and survivors. It is a statutory inquiry; it has the power to compel witnesses and the production of evidence, which is important, and anyone who is found to have misled the inquiry would face prosecution. I hope this gives confidence to the survivors and people in the local community that this inquiry will indeed get to the truth.

[Julie Cooper (Burnley) (Lab)]

Q4. My constituent Ian has lifelong profound learning and physical disabilities: he is doubly incontinent, cannot wash, dress or cook for himself, has no notion of personal safety and if left unsupervised is at risk. He is able to live independently thanks to the support of his elderly mother who is herself unwell, and by virtue of a local authority social care package. Now Ian’s personal independence payment application, which he needs to fund this care, has been refused on the grounds that he can cope unaided. Does the Prime Minister agree that there is something very wrong with a system that punishes citizens whose only crime is to be born disabled? Will she agree to investigate on behalf of the thousands of vulnerable people who are being made to suffer?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady has raised a specific case and I am sure that she will understand that I do not have the details to address it, and it would not be right to do so here in this Chamber. What I can assure her and other Members is that individual cases that are raised with me in Prime Minister’s questions are taken extremely seriously and this one will be no exception. So I will ensure that the case is looked at urgently by the relevant Minister; obviously cases are complex and multifaceted, but this case will be looked at urgently.