Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Joy Morrissey and Justin Tomlinson

Monday 13th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Joy Morrissey (Beaconsfield) (Con)]

T8. It is vital that disabled people are able to play an active role in public life, particularly those with visual impairments. Will my hon. Friend therefore update the House on what the Government are doing to support this?

[The Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work (Justin Tomlinson)]

We are committed to seeing more disabled people becoming elected representatives. In addition to political parties doing more, the national disability strategy sets out the Minister for the Constitution’s work to bring forward a new scheme in 2022 to support candidates and, importantly, those already elected to public office.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Joy Morrissey and Justin Tomlinson

Monday 14th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Joy Morrissey (Beaconsfield) (Con)]

What steps her Department is taking to support disabled people during the covid-19 outbreak.

[The Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work (Justin Tomlinson)]

My Department has supported disabled customers during the covid outbreak by automatically extending existing personal independence payment awards and new flexible access to work support for people to work from home as well as in the workplace and ensuring that disabled people can access new support, including kickstart.

[Joy Morrissey]

We are heading into an important 12 months for policy development to help disabled people with the Government’s new national disability strategy. Many charities in my constituency in Beaconsfield and across Bucks are very keen to give feedback to this strategy. Can my hon. Friend reassure the House that he is meeting stakeholders from a diverse range of backgrounds to ensure the development of a disability policy that is inclusive to everyone?

[Justin Tomlinson]

For both the Green Paper and the national strategy for disabled people, we will be making sure that disabled people, disabled organisations and stakeholders are very much at the heart of shaping our future policies and service delivery.

We will be organising national, regional and local-led events and events in conjunction with stakeholders. I know that my hon. Friend is a strong advocate of her disability organisations in her constituency, and I encourage her to encourage them to take part in the coming months.