We wrote to the new ‘Minister for Disabled People’ and we publish here her full reply.
We wanted to know what her plans and aims were regarding disability now that she has been appointed the Minister responsible.
“Thank you for your email of 31 January regarding support for disabled
people.
As the Minister for Disabled People, I am personally committed to
improving the services and support for disabled people and people with
health conditions. I want to ensure that the help the Department for Work
and Pensions provides now, and in the future, opens up opportunities
and enables disabled people to enjoy full and independent lives in a
modern, inclusive society.
Improving employment outcomes for disabled people is a key
Government objective. We know that good work is good for health as it
enables people to become more financially robust, and gives them more
opportunities to fulfil their ambitions in life. Disabled people who are out
of work are nearly three times less likely to move into work over the
course of a year, compared with non-disabled people.
A range of initiatives are supporting disabled people to stay in and enter
work. These include the Work and Health Programme, the Intensive
Personalised Employment Support programme, Access to Work,
Disability Confident and support in partnership with the health system,
including Employment Advice in NHS Improving Access to Psychological
Therapy services. In response to COVID19, we have provided specialist
employment support remotely and made programmes easier to access.
We published ‘Shaping Future Support: The Health and Disability Green
Paper’ on 20 July 2021. The subsequent 12-week consultation asked
disabled people and their representatives for their views about the
approaches and solutions we proposed to improve the health and
disability benefits system. We are now considering the responses that
we have received. These will inform a White Paper, which will be
published later this year, setting out how we can better enable people to
live more independently and take up work.
Finally, on 28 July 2021, we published the National Disability Strategy
which aims to improve disabled people’s everyday lives. It sets out a
very wide-ranging set of cross-Government practical actions to improve
the lives of disabled people, across education, jobs, housing, transport,
shopping, culture, justice, public services, and data and evidence. It
takes into account the impacts of the pandemic and includes
commitments in areas we know are important to tackle, including:
• addressing issues of welfare support and disability benefits,
through the Department’s linked ‘Health and Disability Green
Paper Shaping Future Support’;
• consulting on making flexible working the default, unless
employers have good reasons not to;
• setting up an Extra Costs Taskforce, 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 by summer 2022; and
• reforming the adult and social care system.
I hope that this reassures you of my resolve to continue to work with
disabled people and people with health conditions, charities and
organisations to ensure we focus on the best solutions that will make a
real difference to disabled people across the country.”
Best wishes,
Chloe Smith MP
Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work
