Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact on disabled people of her decision not to hold a consultation on proposed cuts to disability benefits.

The Pathways to Work Green Paper set out our plans and proposals for reform to health and disability benefits and employment support. This includes some urgently needed reforms to PIP eligibility and Universal Credit rates that are not subject to consultation but on which Parliament will fully debate and vote.

This government values the input of disabled people and people with health conditions, in addition to the representative organisations and people that support them. The Green Paper consults on many key elements of the reform package, including employment support and Access to Work, which are at the centre of our plans to improve the system for disabled people. We hope that a wide range of voices will respond to the consultation, and we are holding a programme of public consultation events across the country to help facilitate input.

We are also continuing to develop other ways to facilitate the involvement of stakeholders and disabled people in our reforms. In addition to the consultation itself, we are establishing ‘collaboration committees’ that bring groups of people together for specific work areas and our wider review of the PIP assessment will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience. We are also in the process of establishing the Disability Advisory Panel we announced in the Get Britain Working White Paper, which will be a strategic advisory panel of disabled people and individuals with long-term health conditions.