Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the timescale is for the consultation on the National Strategy for Disabled People; and when that process will include consultation with (a) disabled people’s organizations and representatives of disabled workers and (b) trade unions.

The Government is committed to transforming the lives of disabled people, and will publish the National Strategy for Disabled People this year.

It will be informed by insights from the lived experience of disabled people, and will focus on the issues that disabled people say are most important across all aspects of life, from transport to education, and housing to employment. On Friday 15th January, we launched the online UK Disability Survey, which complements the range of engagement already undertaken and ongoing, including lived experience research with disabled people, discussions with the Disabled Charities Consortium, the Regional Stakeholder Networks and others. Contributions to the survey will feed not only into the development of the strategy but also its delivery.