Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps she has taken to help end discrimination against disabled people.

This Government is committed to creating a more inclusive society, ensuring disabled people receive the support they need and working with them so that their views and voices are at the heart of everything we do.

Our Equality (Race and Disability) Bill will enshrine in law the full right to equal pay for disabled people, introducing disability pay gap reporting for large employers on ethnicity and disability, and extending equal pay rights to protect workers suffering discrimination on the basis of race or disability. We are taking action to support British businesses in making workplaces more inclusive and supportive of disabled people.

We have also recently announced the creation of the new Lead Ministers for Disability network, who will represent the interests of disabled people and champion disability inclusion and accessibility across each government department, as they drive forward progress on the government’s manifesto commitments and 5 missions.

These recent steps work alongside the Equality Act 2010, which is the principal means through which disabled people are protected from discrimination in Great Britain. The Equality Act 2010 provides protection against discrimination, harassment and victimisation in the workplace and in wider society. It also requires employers and service providers to make reasonable adjustments to ensure disabled people are not placed at a substantial disadvantage and the failure to do so could amount to unlawful discrimination.