Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to bring forward legislative proposals to enshrine the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into UK domestic law.

The UK is a fully committed party to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which we ratified in 2009. The UK as a general principle does not incorporate international treaties into domestic law. However, the rights of disabled people under this Convention are largely reflected and given effect in existing domestic policies and legislation.

The Equality Act 2010 provides, in domestic legislation, protections for people in Great Britain against discrimination, harassment or victimisation because of any of the nine protected characteristics set out in the Act – which include disability – as well as the public sector equality duty to promote equality of opportunity for all. Equivalent provisions for Northern Ireland are set out in a range of devolved legislation.

In 2019 we launched a new cross-government approach to disability and we will publish a ‘National Strategy for Disabled People’ in 2020.