Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to Answer of 17 May to Question 314 on Disability: Public Consultation, if she will (a) specify in which month she plans to publish the Green Paper, and (b) set out the mechanisms by which she is continuing engagement with disabled people and their representatives; and if she will make a statement.

Given the necessary focus on the departmental response to Covid-19, we are working to a longer timescale than previously anticipated. There is no set date for publication but we plan to publish in the coming months.

The content of the Green Paper will be strongly influenced by the views of disabled people and their representatives. Over the last 12 months I have led a series of virtual events, organised with national charities, where I heard directly from disabled people about their experiences with the benefits system.

In February I wrote to all Members of Parliament to offer a virtual event with disabled people, charities and organisations in their constituency. We have held ten of these events so far and they will continue in the run up to the publication of the Green Paper and during the consultation period.