Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2021 to Question 153163 on Coronavirus: Disability, with reference to finding by the Office of National Statistics that 60 per cent of deaths involving covid-19 between 24 January and 20 November 2020 were disabled people, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that disabled people are protected from covid-19 in the future.

The Government plans to publish a National Strategy for Disabled People later this spring to ensure that all disabled people can play a full role in society. The Strategy will take into account the impacts of the pandemic on disabled people and will focus on the issues that disabled people say affect them the most in all aspects of life.

Local authorities are working with other local partners including clinical commissioning groups, voluntary sector partners and community leaders, to identify the way in which COVID-19 has widened health inequalities and factor this into their recovery plans.