Social Security Benefits: Disability

(asked on 22nd June 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her plans for a Health and Disability Green Paper, what steps her Department has taken to engage disabled people in discussions on how the benefits system is working in preparation for publication of that Paper; what plans he had to incorporate disabled people's insights from the consultation into the recommendation of that paper; and what her timescale is for publication of that Paper.


Answered by
Justin Tomlinson Portrait
Justin Tomlinson
This question was answered on 28th June 2021

It is vital that the voices of disabled people are at the centre of health and disability policy development. Over the past 18 months I have personally led a series of events in which I have heard directly from disabled people about their lived experiences with the benefits system. The forthcoming Health and Disability Green Paper will reflect themes coming out of those conversations and ask for views on how best to address them.

Given the necessary focus on the departmental response to Covid-19, we are working to a longer timescale than previously anticipated. We will continue the engagement with disabled people and their representatives and plan to publish the formal consultation document in the coming months.

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