Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department made an assessment of the potential impact of using the Gov.uk One Login to verify identity on people who (a) do not have photo ID and (b) are visually impaired.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Inclusion is at the heart of GOV.UK One Login. The service provides multiple ways for users to prove their identity, including a no photo ID route which involves answering security questions.
GDS regularly tests designs with disabled users, including visually impaired users, where tests are performed with assistive technology.Our accessibility statement is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/govuk-one-login-app-accessibility-statement.
We have a Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) assessment, which examines the impacts of the service on the different protected characteristics and establishes mitigations where necessary.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of school policies that restrict mobile‑phone use on pupil's health and safety.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department’s new, stronger guidance on mobile phones in schools is clear that all schools should be mobile phone-free by default. Pupils should not have access to their devices during lessons, break times, lunch times, or between lessons.
The guidance is clear that exceptions to a mobile phones policy may be required for children with specific special educational needs, disabilities or medical conditions. This includes users of health tech or assistive technology.
Where school leaders need to make additional exceptions or flexibilities to their policies based on a child’s individual needs, we trust them to do so.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the UK's level of participation in global disability rights and inclusion activities.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has been a long-standing supporter of disability rights around the world, and our global programmes are supporting disability inclusion in health, education and employment, as well as access to innovative assistive technology.
As well as building disability inclusion into the work we are doing across all Foreign Office priorities, the UK is co-chairing the Global Action on Disability Network, which will strengthen international coordination on disability rights and accelerate progress.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve accessibility to higher education for people with progressive neurological conditions such as Friedreich’s ataxia.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to ensuring that all students are supported to both access higher education (HE) and to thrive while they are there. For example, in our recent Skills White Paper we committed to significantly increasing the take-up of the Adjustment Planner. This allows all individuals to go through the support that they think would be right for them and discuss this with the people they are studying with.
It also remains the case that HE providers have responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments for all their disabled students.
Wherever possible, disabled students should expect to have their needs met through inclusive learning practices and individual reasonable adjustments made by their provider.
In addition to reasonable adjustments, the Disabled Students’ Allowance is available for the provision of more specialist support. For students with progressive neurological conditions, such as Friedreich’s ataxia, this may include assistive technology.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department are taking to ensure universities offer adequate (a) support and (b) safety provision for visually impaired students.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to ensuring that all students are well supported during their time at university.
Higher education providers have responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments for all their disabled students, which includes those with a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term negative effect on their ability to do normal daily activities.
Wherever possible, disabled students should expect to have their needs met through inclusive learning practices and individual reasonable adjustments made by their provider. In addition to reasonable adjustments, Disabled Students’ Allowance is available for the provision of more specialist support. For visually impaired students this may include sighted guides and assistive technology.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of levels of provision for blind and partially sighted students in further education (a) with and (b) without education, health and care plans (i) during the transition from school to further education and (ii) at other times; and what steps she is taking to improve accountability for ensuring (A) timely and (B) effective reasonable adjustments are (1) identified, (2) funded and (3) implemented.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Support for people with visual impairments in and transitioning into, further education is guided by legal duties under the Equality Act 2010 and the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Code of Practice, with tailored provisions depending on the needs of the individual. This applies to those with or without education, health and care plans (EHCPs).
All education and training providers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people, including those with visual impairments, so they are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled students. Reasonable adjustments can include adapting teaching methods, using assistive technology, modifying assessments, and offering personalised support services.
Ensuring that support is provided in a timely and effective manner is the responsibility of the local authority.
The new Ofsted handbook requires further education providers to embed inclusion across all aspects of provision. Providers must identify their learners’ needs and demonstrate measurable impact on progress and wellbeing.
The department tracks the progress and attainment of learners with SEND and participation and retention rates for learners with EHCPs or special educational needs support and are determined that our reforms to the system should improve experiences and outcomes for learners and their families.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that blind and partially sighted students in further education (a) with and (b) without education, health and care plans are able to access (i) specialist vision impairment support and (ii) associated (A) trained professionals and (B) appropriate assistive technology; and what guidance her Department has to ensure that students without education, health and care plans are able to access that support.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Support for people with visual impairments in and transitioning into, further education is guided by legal duties under the Equality Act 2010 and the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Code of Practice, with tailored provisions depending on the needs of the individual. This applies to those with or without education, health and care plans (EHCPs).
All education and training providers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people, including those with visual impairments, so they are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled students. Reasonable adjustments can include adapting teaching methods, using assistive technology, modifying assessments, and offering personalised support services.
Ensuring that support is provided in a timely and effective manner is the responsibility of the local authority.
The new Ofsted handbook requires further education providers to embed inclusion across all aspects of provision. Providers must identify their learners’ needs and demonstrate measurable impact on progress and wellbeing.
The department tracks the progress and attainment of learners with SEND and participation and retention rates for learners with EHCPs or special educational needs support and are determined that our reforms to the system should improve experiences and outcomes for learners and their families.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people have received wobble boards through Access to Work in each of the past five years, and what was the average cost of a wobble board.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Details of the specific special aides/equipment an individual claims payment for is stored as descriptive free-text information and would require manual examination of individual applications to analyse and to provide it would incur a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to develop accessibility standards for AI-enabled assistive communication technologies used by people with disabilities.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations require most public sector organisations to ensure their services, websites, intranets, extranets, published documents, and apps are accessible to disabled people by meeting the requirements of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines v2.2 to level AA and by publishing a prescribed format accessibility statement. This includes requirements to work with assistive technologies. The regulations apply regardless of if the technology is AI enabled or not. The Government Service Standard requires Departments to make sure everyone can use the service. The standard doesn’t apply to the wider public sector.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether government departments meet duties to provide reasonable adjustments for disabled staff.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
All government departments are subject to the Equality Act 2010, which places a legal duty on employers to make reasonable adjustments for disabled staff and job applicants where they would otherwise be at a substantial disadvantage. Government Departments meet this duty by providing adjustments such as assistive technology, flexible working arrangements, specialist furniture, interpreters, and accessible workplaces. The Department for Work and Pensions leads the Disability Confident scheme in its capacity supporting disabled people into work, which encourages all employers, including government departments, to recruit, retain and develop disabled people and those with health conditions.