Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason Ministers did not attend the UN review of the Government's treatment of disabled people due to take place in Geneva on 28 August 2023.

The hearing was arranged in relation to the Committee’s review of the UK Government’s follow-up reports to the 2016 inquiry under the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. A state party dialogue with Ministers is not a procedural requirement of this review.

We have followed all of the Committee’s necessary rules and procedures and, as agreed with the Committee entirely properly, representatives of the UK Government will present the UK’s progress at the Committee’s session in March 2024.