Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how frequently the Lead Ministers for Disability have met over the last year; and if he will publish the (a) agenda and (b) topics discussed by the Lead Ministers for Disability in the last year.

On 3 December 2024, International Day of Persons with Disabilities, I announced new Lead Ministers for Disability in every Government department.

In addition to their day-to-day Ministerial portfolios, the Lead Ministers for Disability have a specific responsibility to break down barriers to opportunity right across the Government’s long-term missions, and to fulfil the manifesto commitment that this Government will champion the rights of disabled people and work with them so that their views and voices are at the heart of everything we do.

To do this effectively, I and my fellow Lead Ministers for Disability work together across Government and routinely engage with disabled people and those with lived experience, along with a broad range of disabled people’s organisations and other external stakeholders. Feedback I have received suggests that this engagement is well received and beneficial to all involved.

The Government does not intend to publish an annual or periodic report on the work of Lead Ministers for Disability. However, I chair regular meetings of the group throughout the year, to ensure that the needs and rights of disabled people are being properly considered and addressed across all Government departments.

To date, we have met in December 2024, March and June 2025 and are expecting to meet again in the near future.

Although we do not publish the minutes, outcomes and performance monitoring for meetings of Lead Ministers for Disability, the agendas for the meetings so far have consisted of updates from Lead Ministers for Disability on progress across their departments’ policies which particularly impact disabled people; updates on the British Sign Language Act 2022 and the requirement for Departments to develop and publish five year plans on how they will improve the use of BSL (all published in July 2025); discussion of issues relating to collection across Government of data on disability; and the Government’s intention to develop a Plan for Disability.