Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what cross-departmental work is being undertaken to help ensure disabled people are not disadvantaged where one Government department requires telephone contact as the primary or sole method of progressing a case.

It is the responsibility of each government department to ensure that their communications meet the needs of the general population as appropriate.

The Public Sector Equality Duty is a general duty at Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. It requires public authorities, and private and voluntary organisations carrying out public functions, to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between different people. This applies to their day-to-day work, including in delivering services.

In order to meet the Duty, Government departments routinely carry out equality assessments of policy and operational changes. These help policy makers to fully consider how decisions may affect different groups in different ways, and design their policies accordingly.