Breaking Down Barriers to Opportunity

Vicky Foxcroft Excerpts

Wednesday 8th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Vicky Foxcroft (Lewisham, Deptford) (Lab)]

On the anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, I have to say that it is disappointing that not much in the King’s Speech delivered for disabled people. After 13 years of Conservative-led Governments, disabled people feel that they are an afterthought and that their rights are not fully protected and promoted in this country. It is shocking that we are still having these conversations in 2023. Progress has gone backwards, not forwards. It is well documented that the pandemic and the cost of living crisis have had a disproportionate effect on disabled people. That comes on top of the fact that extra costs are already associated with having a disability.

Earlier this year, disability equality charity Scope released updated research on the extra costs associated with having a disability—the so-called disability price tag. When Scope last calculated the price tag, in 2019, it stood at an average of £583 per month for households containing at least one disabled person. Over the past four years, that has risen to a shocking £975 per month, which equates to 63% of household income. That means that disabled households need to find almost £12,000 extra per year to achieve the same living standards as non-disabled households. The impact of the rising costs is exacerbated by the fact that disabled people also tend to have lower than average incomes. In its January 2023 report, the Resolution Foundation found that the gap in household income in respect of adults with a disability and adults without one was about 30% when including disability benefits, and 44% when excluding them.

Ministers tell us that they have brought forth a number of measures to improve disabled people’s rights and tackle the barriers they continue to face, so let us have a look at some of them in turn. First, we come to the national disability strategy, which was announced in the 2019 Queen’s Speech. The strategy was much delayed before its eventual publication, in the summer recess of 2021. Although claiming to be bold, it introduced little new policy for disabled people and instead relied on other pieces of Government work. It was then held up by a lengthy court case brought by disabled people who disputed whether the consultation process had been lawful. Had the Government engaged in proper co-production, the court case would not have been necessary.

Next came the disability action plan, which was quietly announced in December last year. After months of waiting, the proposals for the plan were published during the summer recess—again—and the consultation closed a month ago. Disappointingly, the plan does not contain a cohesive set of actions to bring about the changes disabled people so desperately need.

Thirdly, we have the health and disability White Paper that sets out some plans to reform employment support and disability benefit. Its most significant proposal is the scrapping of the work capability assessments, which has left many people concerned that the system will rely solely on the flawed personal independence payment assessment.

All this should be considered in the context of the United Nations convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, which seeks to ensure that disabled people’s rights are promoted and protected. In 2016, an investigation found that “grave or systemic violations” of disabled people’s rights had taken place because of welfare reforms in the UK since 2010. In 2017, at the first periodic review, the Conservative Government were judged to have taken insufficient action to implement earlier recommendations. The next review is ongoing, but the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, the hon. Member for Corby (Tom Pursglove), who was on the Front Bench earlier and I wish was now, caused further concern by refusing to attend an evidence session in August 2023.

The Government must do better. Twenty-four per cent of the UK population identify as disabled, and we must stop letting them down. We must break down the barriers that exist in society. Ministers should be taking every opportunity they can to co-produce policy with disabled people, who are the experts by experience, and to ensure that their needs are being met in every part of life.