Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Bates on 22 February (HL Deb, cols 319–22), what assessment they have made of the extent to which older women with disabilities are among the most vulnerable groups in developing countries; and what plans they have, ahead of the Global Disability Summit in July, to include older women in their disability agenda.

The UK government recognises that historically global development has not reached marginalised groups, such as older women with disabilities. This is why we took a leading role in pushing for the global goals to be underpinned by the promise to leave no one behind.

We have been coordinating global efforts to strengthen data quality and systems that accurately capture the experience and lives of older people, women, and people with disabilities. We will continue to drive progress in this area so that we can we can identify those that are most at risk of being left behind and not reached by programming.

Ageing forms an important part of the UK’s work on disability inclusion in international development and is integral to our approach to leaving no one behind. Older women with disabilities will benefit from the Global Disability Summit, which will lock in progress and increase action and investment in this historically neglected area.