Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to consult (a) people with disabilities and (b) representative groups on her Department's strategic objectives following the covid-19 outbreak.

The Department for Work and Pensions places a strong emphasis on engaging with stakeholders to inform health and disability policy. Before the Covid-19 outbreak we hosted a series of workshops across the country where local disability organisations and disabled people shared their experiences of DWP services and priorities for future changes. We have continued this engagement since Covid-19 with a series of virtual events with charities and disabled people, where we heard from people about the impact of the pandemic on their lives. The forthcoming Health and Disability Green Paper will reflect themes coming out of those conversations and ask for views on how best to address them. We will continue this engagement with further events with disabled people and their representatives in the run up to the publication of the Green Paper, during the consultation period, and beyond.

To support the development of the National Strategy for Disabled People and future work, the Government has already engaged widely with a diverse range of stakeholders, including the Disability Charities Consortium, the Regional Stakeholder Networks, individual disabled people and others.