Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Government’s response to recommendation 59(b) in its follow up report to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ Concluding Observations, what supporting evidence the Government has that a cumulative impact assessment of its welfare reforms cannot be reliably modelled.

The government carefully considers the impact of its decisions on those sharing protected characteristics, in line with both its legal obligations and with its strong commitment to promoting fairness. The government supports people with disabilities through both the welfare system and through public services. We spend over £50bn on benefits to support disabled people and people with health conditions which accounts for over 6% of Government spending. Spending on disability benefits will be higher every year to 2022 than in 2010.

Since 2010, the Treasury has regularly published cumulative analysis of the impacts of tax, welfare and public spending policies on households according to their income. However, this analysis has not been produced specifically for those with disabilities as the full impacts on these households of all public spending such as on health, transport and other non-financial support cannot be reliably modelled with the data which is currently available.