Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of members of the public who will attend the Pathways to Work consultation meetings.

We are holding a series of face to face and virtual public consultation events across the country in relation to the Pathways to Work Green Paper, to help us hear from people directly. Details of the events are advertised online and can be found at Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper - GOV.UK. These events are held at venues undergoing stringent health, safety, and risk assessment to ensure their suitability for DWP staff and members of the public attending these events.

The consultation will run until 30 June 2025 and members of the public are welcome to share their feedback on the proposals in the consultation in writing, online and via email, in addition to in person or virtually at these ticketed events. We have conducted five in person and three virtual events to date, which approximately 130 participants have joined. The consultation events have facilitated group discussions which will feed into the consultation response analysis. A full list of upcoming events can be found on gov.uk.

We hope a wide range of voices will respond to the consultation and we welcome all views, including those of carers, who provide invaluable support to elderly or disabled people. Carers have also attended our events.

In addition to the Green Paper consultation and the accompanying events, we are continuing to facilitate other ways to involve people in our reforms, especially disabled people and their representatives. This includes through the PIP assessment review that I am leading, the Disability Advisory Panel we announced in the Get Britain Working White Paper, and our ‘collaboration committees’ which will bring groups, including disabled people and other experts, together for specific work areas.