Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant of the Answer of 11 January 2021 to Question 133065 on Social Security Benefits: Disability, if she will instruct her officials to explore opportunities to utilise digital technology to increase direct engagement with disabled and seriously unwell people during the formal consultation on the health and disability green paper.
We have undertaken engagement with a range of stakeholders, disabled people’s organisations and disabled people ahead of the forthcoming publication of the health and disability Green Paper. This will ensure the Green Paper focuses on the issues that are important to those who use our services.
This has included several consultation events, face to face prior to the pandemic and through video after, attended by disabled people, representatives from charities and disabled people’s organisations from across the country.
We will produce the Green Paper in a range of accessible formats. Engagement will continue alongside the formal consultation after publication where we will maximise the way we engage using a variety of digital methods such as on-line video platforms and Citizen Space. There is not a fixed budget for the public consultation, but it will come from the Department’s existing funding allocation.