Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 72 of the National Disability Strategy, published in July 2021, what progress his Department has made on establishing the Extra Costs Taskforce.

We are pleased that we can restart the work around the Extra Costs Taskforce. The Taskforce will be focused on bringing together disabled people, regulators and businesses, to better understand the extra costs faced by disabled people, including how this breaks down for different impairments.

The Disability Unit is currently working up a project plan and engaging with other government departments to take this commitment forward. The Disability Unit has begun to engage with interested stakeholders, including the Disability Charities Consortium, to develop an understanding around the definition of extra costs and what the terms of reference and focus areas of the Taskforce could be.

The Disability Unit will also be using insight from the Disability Action Plan consultation findings regarding the impact of the cost of living on disabled people when taking forward work on the Extra Costs Taskforce.