Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure the compatibility of the Pathways to Work green paper with the UK's obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

We take our international obligations including those under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) very seriously.

The measures announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper, and those implemented in the Universal Credit Act, are in accordance with this Government’s commitment to help disabled people fulfil their potential.

We remain committed to constructive engagement with disabled people and broader stakeholders as part of our efforts to develop and implement reforms that support disabled people. This is evidenced with the launch of collaboration committees which bring together groups of disabled people and other experts for specific work areas to collaborate and provide discussion, challenge, and recommendations. The Disability Advisory Panel is being established to convene and connect the expertise of deaf and disabled people and people with long-term health conditions into our policy and strategy design and delivery. This will be chaired by Disability rights expert and consultant Zara Todd, taking a guiding role in the development and focus of the panel.

We are also engaging with disabled people and their representatives as part of the Timms Review, which aims to ensure we have a system that supports disabled people to achieve better health, higher living standards and greater independence. We have committed to co-producing the Review with disabled people, the organisations that represent them and other stakeholders.