Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the National Disability Strategy published on 28 July 2021, which of his Department’s commitments in that strategy that have not been paused as a result of legal action have (a) been fully, (b) been partially and (c) not been implemented.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
In January 2022, the High Court declared the National Disability Strategy (NDS) was unlawful because the UK Disability Survey, which informed it, was held to be a voluntary consultation that failed to comply with the legal requirements on public consultations.
The Cabinet Office had 19 commitments set out in Part 3 of the NDS. These commitments, along with their implementation status, are set out in the table below.
We remain fully committed to supporting disabled people in the UK through creating more opportunities, protecting their rights and ensuring they fully benefit from, and can contribute to, every aspect of our society. To support this, the Cabinet Office will be providing further details of our recent achievements to improve disabled people’s lives in the forthcoming Disability Action Plan consultation due for publication in the summer.
Ahead of this, the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work will write providing a list of these achievements and will place a copy in the House Library.
Cabinet Office commitments as set out in the National Disability Strategy Part 3 (2021) | Status of commitment |
Better recognise the exceptional contribution of disabled people to the UK through the honours system. | Partially implemented. |
Launch a new website and application system to transform how disabled people can access public appointments, alongside increased outreach with disability networks. | Partially implemented. |
Develop a new principle that arm’s length bodies offer disabled non-executive directors on their boards the ability to do their duties remotely, if they so wish. | Fully implemented. |
Ensure the exemplar accessibility of government buildings, through the work of the Government Property Agency. | Partially implemented |
Introduce legislation to require returning officers to consider the needs of people with a wide range of disabilities. | Please see the reply of Dehenna Davison MP, on behalf of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) on 20 June 2023: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2023-06-15/189778 |
Progress work to require landlords to make reasonable adjustments to the common parts of leasehold and commonhold homes. | Not implemented. |
Run a campaign to help the public sector make mobile applications accessible, and raise awareness of how people can raise complaints about inaccessible websites. | Fully implemented. |
Consult on workforce reporting on disability for large employers, exploring voluntary and mandated workplace transparency, and publish a set of next steps. | Paused. |
Lead by example, taking further measures to make the Civil Service a brilliant place to work for disabled people, including timely workplace adjustments, support for staff disability networks and continuing to grow our multi-award winning work experience and development programmes. | Fully implemented. |
Lead a multi-year programme to improve the availability, quality, relevance and comparability of government disability data. | Not implemented. |
Leverage government’s procurement spend to drive better outcomes for disabled people. | Fully implemented. |
Review our approach to ensure we are engaging in the best ways and with a sufficiently diverse group of disabled people. | Paused. |
Explore the establishment of a world-leading Centre for Assistive and Accessible Technology. | Paused. |
Expand the Disability and Access Ambassadors programme. | Fully Implemented. |
Assess the assistive and accessible technology needs of disabled people in England. | Fully implemented. |
Through the Central Digital and Data Office, deliver a single government account for users’ personal and business needs, benefitting many disabled people. | Partially implemented. |
Improve the accessibility of government communications. | Partially implemented. |
Work across government to drive further action on crime, accessible products and services and social participation. | Not implemented. |
Through Places for Growth, help create a fully inclusive and diverse workforce for the long term, not the short term, and developing talent opportunities across the Regions and Nations of the UK. | Partially implemented. |
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how events are assessed for level of risk for the purposes of inclusion on the National Risk Register.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The National Risk Register of Civil Emergencies (NRR) is the public-facing version of the National Security Risk Assessment (NSRA), a classified assessment of the key risks that could potentially damage the safety or security of the UK or our interests, both domestically and overseas, in the next two years.
Both the malicious and non-malicious risks included in the NSRA are based on reasonable worst case scenarios informed by the expertise of government departments, academia, private sector and the wider scientific community. The risks are assessed on a) how likely it is that the risk will occur in the next two years and b) the breadth and scale of expected impacts across a number of dimensions were the scenario to occur. Such scenarios are not designed to predict what might happen in the future, but should illustrate the types of capabilities that need to be developed to prepare for, respond to and recover from, civil emergencies.
If a risk satisfies the definition of a ‘civil emergency’ as defined by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and exceeds pre-defined thresholds for likelihood and impact, then it will be included in the NSRA. Where sensitivities permit, the NRR will then communicate this risk information to the wider public via its publication on gov.uk.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals on votes for life for British citizens living abroad.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government is committed to scrapping the arbitrary rule preventing British citizens who have lived abroad for more than 15 years from participating in UK parliamentary elections.
That is why we supported Glyn Davies’ Private Members’ Bill on overseas electors. We were therefore disappointed the Bill did not progress through its Report stage in the Commons on 22 March 2019. Nevertheless, the Government remains committed to implementing votes for life.
Changes to the franchise require Parliamentary approval and have to be made significantly in advance of elections, to enable administrators to implement the change and to ensure citizens are aware of the change to their rights.
We will make an announcement on our intentions in due course.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of the progress of the National Citizenship Service.
Answered by Rob Wilson
By the end of this year, we expect that over 200,000 young people will have benefited from NCS. Independent evaluations are showing that NCS is helping it deliver more confident, capable and engaged young people. That is why government has pledged to guarantee a place for every young person who wants one.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the summer 2014 National Citizen Service programmes.
Answered by Brooks Newmark
National Citizen Service has grown significantly this summer with the programme seeing its 100,000th participant.