Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2023 to Question 189783 on Cabinet: Disability, what discussions Ministers in his Department have had with the Cabinet Office on the decision not to implement the National Disability Strategy commitment to lead a multi-year programme to improve the availability, quality, relevance and comparability of Government disability data.

In January 2022, the High Court declared the National Disability Strategy was unlawful because the UK Disability Survey, which informed it, was held to be a voluntary consultation that failed to comply with the legal requirements on public consultations.

We are disappointed by, and strongly disagree with, the High Court’s finding, and the Secretary of State was granted permission to appeal the Court's declaration. That appeal hearing was heard on 28 June 2023, and we await the decision of the Court.

As the National Disability Strategy was found to be unlawful, we are unable to provide you with the further information you have requested.

We are fully committed to supporting disabled people in the UK through creating more opportunities, protecting their rights, and ensuring they fully benefit from, and can contribute to, every aspect of our society. To support this, we will be providing details of the Government’s recent achievements to improve disabled people’s lives in the forthcoming Disability Action Plan consultation due for publication in the summer.

The Disability Action Plan will go further in areas where we think joint action across departments can make a tangible difference to disabled people’s lives in the immediate term - or where we can make meaningful progress towards a longer-term goal, for example improved disability data and evidence.