Saturday 5 February 2011

Live Q&A with Maria Miller

Guardian Money are hosting a live web-based Q&A with Maria Miller next Wednesday afternoon. It's important that as many people as possible ask searching questions of Maria Miller. A few tips on good questions are:

1. Steer clear of obvious questions. There is some confusion over indefinite/life awards, but it is already clear that claimants with 'life' awards will be reassessed, as will over 65s and children. The details will not be available for months, when the consultation report is published. Thus, such questions give Maria Miller the easy option of answering 'soft' questions.

2. Don't ask questions that are framed personally - asking about yourself and your condition. This will give Maria Miller the opportunity to bluster and paatronize, without saying anything new.

3. Pick out a phrase from the consultation document that you think is misleading or confusing. Quote it and ask her what it means.

4. Make sure that your question is phrased respectfully.

5. You are welcome to contact rhydian@thebrokenofbritain.org at any point.

Finally, on an unrelated note, a TBofB member wanted to tell people:

If suffering with a chronic & profound illness and/or disability they DO NOT have to travel to any AH assessment center but can request a domiciliary visit to permit a "doctor" to visit and assess them at home. They must make sure they have a reliable chaperon with them at all times.

2 comments:

DeusExMacintosh said...

Done. "Objective" medical assessment? How do these differ from the "independent" ones they've had for over a decade?

Rhydian said...

Great! Well done. That is EXACTLY the kind of question we need - something she can't just wriggle out of by saying that 'Ministers believe that reform is needed in a number of areas, and announcements will be made over the next few months as Ministers develop policies.' Let's nail her down on some specific points.