Asked by: Matt Bishop (Labour - Forest of Dean)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle the impact of music in shops on people with sensory sensitivities.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Equality Act 2010 places a duty on service providers to make reasonable adjustments to improve access to premises, buildings and services. This is so that disabled customers have the same access to goods and services and are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled customers. This is an anticipatory duty, meaning providers should not wait to be asked before acting, but should expect that some of their customers will be disabled and require adaptations.
The Government welcomes steps some retailers are taking to introduce sensory friendly hours for customers who may find busy or loud shopping environments overwhelming.
Encouragingly, many establishments are already adopting practices like offering "quiet hours" or optimising acoustics for a more welcoming atmosphere.
The National Autistic Society has produced guidance for businesses on how this can be implemented: Autism Hour guidance (including tips for social distancing).pdf
Asked by: Matt Bishop (Labour - Forest of Dean)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that planned reforms to the disability benefit system ensure security and support for seriously ill and disabled people.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This government believes there is a strong case to change the system of health and disability benefits across Great Britain so that it better enables people to enter and remain in work, and to respond to the complex and fluctuating nature of the health conditions many people live with today. The system must also work to reduce poverty for disabled people and those with health conditions and support disabled people to live independently.
We want to engage with disabled people, and others with expertise and experience on these issues, to consider how to address these challenges and build a better system. We are working to develop proposals for reform and will set them out for consultation and engagement in a Green Paper in spring 2025. This government is committed to putting the views and voices of disabled people at the heart of all that we do, so we will consult on these proposals with disabled people and representative organisations.
Asked by: Matt Bishop (Labour - Forest of Dean)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that (a) the most vulnerable and (b) other people living in rural constituencies can easily access her Department's support (i) digitally and (ii) through local offices.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
All DWP colleagues are trained to support our most vulnerable customers and have access to a wide range of guidance and signposting to support them. Where further specialist help is required, DWP has a national network of Advanced Customer Support Senior Leaders who can provide additional advice and support through the local networks they have built with external partners and organisations. This could include those who can offer digital and other support to access our services.
Through the national DWP Visiting Service the Department provides additional face-to-face support across all service lines to customers who cannot access DWP services in any other way. A visit can be arranged for a customer if they need extra help to claim benefits, for example because they have complex needs, are disabled, are a vulnerable young person making a claim for the first time, have nobody else to support them or cannot claim benefits in any other way. There is also work underway to look at how we can enhance our Visiting service further so that it is even more flexible to support customers differing needs.
In close collaboration with the Advanced Customer Support team, the Digital Group is driving efforts to standardise how the Department captures and records the needs of our most vulnerable customers, introducing consistency in areas such as accessibility markers.
We are also looking at a re-launch of our Strategic Video Service at the end of 2025, to bring more choice for those customers who struggle to access a physical location. In addition, we have developed an external-facing Application Programming Interface (API), which enables Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to obtain real-time confirmation of a customer's entitlement to relevant benefits and allows eligible customers to take up a social tariff for their broadband, supporting low-income families by reducing their costs and enabling them to stay connected.