Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to regularly (a) monitor and (b) publish data on the impact of inflation on disabled people.

The independent Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for the calculation and publication of inflation statistics. While the ONS does not publish inflation rates faced by disabled people, in January 2022 the ONS resumed its publishing of CPI-consistent inflation estimates for UK by household groups.

The ONS does consider UK households’ experience of changing prices and costs through its Household Costs Indices (HCIs). The ONS published the HCIs in 2020, which included a breakdown in household costs for disabled households between 2015 and 2019. The next update is scheduled to be published in May 2022.

The Government understands the pressures people, in particular vulnerable groups are facing with the cost of living as a result of high inflation. Including the measures announced in the Spring Statement, the Government is providing support to families worth over £22 billion in 2022-23. The Government is continuing to monitor cost of living pressures and carefully considers the equalities impact of policy on those with protected characteristics, in line with both its strong commitment to promoting fairness and its legal obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty in the Equality Act 2010.