Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Social Security Advisory Committee’s Occasional Paper 25: how DWP involves disabled people when designing or evaluating programmes that affect them, if she will publish a plan to engage directly with disabled people on the forthcoming Green Paper on health and disability.

It is vital that the voices of disabled people are at the centre of health and disability policy development. Over the past 18 months I have personally led a series of events in which I have heard directly from disabled people about their lived experiences with the benefits system. We will continue this direct engagement with disabled people up to and following the publication of the Health and Disability Green Paper.

I am grateful to the Committee for their report and pleased to see that our sustained efforts to engage with disabled people have been recognised.