International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Debate between Layla Moran and Stephen Timms

Tuesday 3rd December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Sir Stephen Timms]

I am pleased that my hon. Friend has met her constituent, and of course I would be glad to meet her, her constituent and his parents.

Let me set out some of the steps that we are taking towards our goal. First, we are working hard to provide better support for disabled people who want to work. My hon. Friend the Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth rightly referred to the “Get Britain Working” White Paper, published last week, through which we are determined to tackle that stubbornly large disability employment gap that my hon. Friend the Member for Glenrothes and Mid Fife referred to.

We will overhaul jobcentres. We want work, health and skills plans for every area, bringing together jobcentres, colleges, the NHS, local charities and others in each area to equip disabled people for the opportunities there. We will set up a disability employment panel so that we can consult properly with disabled people and their organisations as we firm up our plans for better employment support. As my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth said, the refrain is, “Nothing about us without us.”

The White Paper also announced an independent review, headed by Sir Charlie Mayfield, who used to run John Lewis, on how the Government and businesses can provide better support at work for people with disabilities and health impairments. I confirm to my hon. Friend that we fully recognise that some people, through ill health or disability, will not be working, and we will ensure that they have the support that they need, recognising the extra costs that she has highlighted.

[Layla Moran (Oxford West and Abingdon) (LD)]

I congratulate my friend, the hon. Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth (Debbie Abrahams), on securing this important debate. Keith, a constituent of mine, is a member of My Life My Choice, a self-advocacy group in Oxfordshire. Its job is to bring the voices of disabled people to MPs and into Parliament, so that they are part of the debate. He wanted me to advocate on his behalf for high-quality adult social care. That allowed him to play the fullest part he could in our community. The Minister would be welcome to come to Oxfordshire to meet him. It would mean the world to the group. What does he have to say to Keith about adult social care?

[Sir Stephen Timms]

The hon. Member’s constituent raises an important point. Indeed, I was pressed on that point earlier today by Peter White in an interview that will be broadcast tonight. Our ambition is for a national care service. That is what we are working for, with a long-term plan that sits alongside our long-term plan for the NHS. Her constituent is absolutely right to press us to deliver on that goal.

We fully recognise that we need to adequately support people through the benefits system, but we know that many of those who are out of work through ill health or disability would, as my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth said, love to be in a job. At the moment, they face insuperable barriers that prevent that, including at times the benefits system. It is tough to bring up a family on universal credit. If someone can persuade my Department that they are too sick to work, they will receive some extra cash, but then no help at all to return to work. The system should not work in that way, and that is what we are determined to change.