Oral Answers to Questions

Anne Begg Excerpts

Thursday 12th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Dame Anne Begg (Aberdeen South) (Lab)]

3. What assessment she has made of the effect of Government policies on efforts to tackle violence against disabled people.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Maria Miller)]

The Government take seriously tackling hate crime against disabled people, and violence in particular. We are meeting the coalition commitment to improve the recording of such crimes and working with voluntary sector partners to encourage more victims to come forward.

[Dame Anne Begg]

Disabled people report an increase in the use of insults such as “scroungers” and “cheats” aimed at them, which reflects the language used by many media outlets when reporting the Government’s own welfare reform. What action will the Minister take to stop the Government adding to the perception that anyone on benefit is fleecing the system and is an acceptable target for such verbal attacks?

[Maria Miller]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question, because I agree that the use of such inflammatory language is not acceptable, and the Government will not use it at all. We believe strongly that it is the system that has trapped disabled people in a spiral of welfare dependency, and that is why the overhaul of the benefits system is such a priority. I hope that we can rely on her support for our work in that area.