Marion Fellows (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP) I beg to move, That
this House has considered the United Nations Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It is a pleasure to serve
under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. I thank the Backbench
Business Committee for the opportunity to raise these matters.
Around the world, 1 billion people live with a disability.
According to World Vision 20% of the world’s poorest live with a
disability, and according to...Request free trial
(Motherwell and Wishaw)
(SNP)
I beg to move,
That this House has considered the United Nations Convention on
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. I
thank the Backbench Business Committee for the opportunity to
raise these matters. Around the world, 1 billion people live with
a disability. According to World Vision 20% of the world’s
poorest live with a disability, and according to the UN around
80% of disabled people live in developing countries. Here in the
UK, nearly half of disabled people—49%—live in poverty, according
to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. In spite of that, disabled
people’s rights at home and abroad have been consistently ignored
and deprioritised by the UK Government.
The UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, or
the UNCRPD, was adopted by the UN General Assembly in December
2006 and ratified in the UK in 2009. It introduced obligations
to
“ensure and promote the full realisation of all human rights and
fundamental freedoms”
for all disabled people, including taking into account
“the protection and promotion of the human rights of persons with
disabilities”
when making and assessing policy. Following a parliamentary
inquiry on disability and development in 2014, the UK committed
to become a global leader on this neglected and under-prioritised
area in its bilateral development review. However, eight years
and a global pandemic later, we have seen glacial progress in the
policy area of disability rights in the UK.
Last week, the second global disability summit was hosted by the
International Disability Alliance, the Government of Norway and
the Government of Ghana. The aim of the summit was to mobilise
efforts for the implementation of the United Nations convention
on the rights of persons with disabilities, the principles of
“leave no one behind” and building back better, and more
inclusive programming with regards to covid-19. Although I was
glad to see the UK Government making 18 commitments at last
week’s summit, they will not meet the real needs of disabled
people or allow us to do our duty as global citizens to protect
the human rights of disabled people at home and abroad. Sadly,
this was a missed opportunity once again, and the UK Government’s
commitment fell way short of what is needed. Ahead of last week’s
summit, the Scottish National party called on the UK Government
to enshrine the UNCRPD in law. That was another missed
opportunity to protect disabled people’s rights at home and
abroad and to advance the rights of everyone.
The UN committee overseeing the UNCRPD not only called on the UK
to incorporate the convention into legislation and allow domestic
remedies for breaches in 2017, but has investigated the UK over
“grave and systematic violations” of the convention in 2016.
Although the UK Government recently published their progress in
response to the recommendations late last year, the socioeconomic
landscape for disabled people has changed beyond recognition
since 2016, when the recommendations were made. Examples include
coercion of disabled people or their carers to sign “do not
resuscitate” orders, and failure to include disabled people in
Government plans for financial and social support during the
pandemic. Thus, disabled people’s rights remain a great cause for
concern.
The Oxford University disability law and policy project and the
Bonavero Institute of Human Rights report, “An Affront to
Dignity, Inclusion and Equality”, published on 2 July 2020,
referred to a
“failure of the government to implement properly its legal duties
with respect to the rights of people with disabilities.”
The report stated:
“The government’s policymaking in response to the pandemic has
failed to fulfil its own Public Sector Equality Duty under the
Equality Act 2010 with respect to disabled people and its
obligations under the United Nations Convention”.
Despite the progress that the UK Government claim to have made,
disability organisations have expressed concerns to me and others
that disabled people’s rights as set out in the convention are
not being protected by the Government. One carer working with the
Disabled Children’s Partnership shared her story:
“My name is Sarah, and I live in Devon with my daughter, who has
an acquired brain injury...There is horrendous resentment towards
disabled people in our society, and carers are massively
undervalued. As one of the richest countries in the world with an
apparent commitment to human rights, you would have thought the
UK could respect disabled children and their families—but we are
treated horrifically. We need to change attitudes, change
services, and fight the injustices that affect disabled children
and families”.
Another carer, Joanna, told me:
“The system is broken....It doesn’t get us the services we have a
right to to live a good quality of life, and makes us spend a
fortune. It needs reform”.
The national disability strategy, published last summer,
committed to being “mindful” of the UNCRPD in its
implementation—but being mindful of disabled people’s rights is
just not enough. In Scotland, as part of taking forward the 30
progressive, bold and ambitious recommendations of the national
taskforce for human rights leadership for a new human rights
framework for Scotland, a new human rights Bill will be
introduced to the Scottish Parliament during this parliamentary
Session. The Bill will incorporate four international human
rights treaties, including the convention on the rights of
persons with disabilities. It will be a significant and
historical milestone in the Scottish human rights journey. It
will give effect to a wide range of internationally recognised
human rights—belonging to everyone in Scotland—as far as possible
within devolved competence, and it will strengthen domestic legal
protections by making them enforceable in Scots law. It will also
demonstrate global human rights leadership, placing Scotland at
the forefront of human rights legislation and, most importantly,
practice. The inclusion of those rights will empower people,
enabling them to claim and enforce their rights in multiple ways
domestically, including in a Scottish court. Incorporation of the
CRPD will give greater impetus to public bodies to remove
barriers and support disabled people to participate fully in
society, such as by being able to access information and services
and living independently with dignity.
The Scottish Government have created a comprehensive delivery
plan to help Scotland meet the requirements of the UN convention
on the rights of persons with disabilities. “A Fairer Scotland
for Disabled People” was the Scottish Government’s delivery plan
for that. It covered 2016 to 2021 and aimed to make equality of
opportunity, access to services and independent living a reality
for all disabled people in Scotland. Flowery phrases are all well
and good, but setting challenging targets is the correct way to
push forward on the rights of disabled people. That sometimes
leads to not achieving all targets, but overall it leads to
improvements in the lives of disabled people. The Scottish
Government have committed to publishing a new disability equality
plan, which will be published this year. Will the Minister follow
the Scottish Government’s lead, commit to enshrining the UNCRPD
in law and champion disability rights at home and on the global
stage?
The UK Government have exhibited a continual pattern of
deprioritising disability inclusion in their policy and
decision-making processes. One of the key recommendations
following the 2017 investigation by the UN committee into the
UK’s implementation of the convention was to involve disabled
people and disabled people’s organisations in planning and
implementing all laws and policies affecting disabled people. The
UK Government said that because the convention was ratified, all
UK Government Departments “need” to consider it when developing
policies that affect disabled people. However, UKIM, the UK
independent mechanism for monitoring progress on the UNCRPD
report, said in October 2018 that it
“remains seriously concerned about the continued failure of the
UK Government to conduct an assessment of the cumulative impact
on disabled people of multiple policy and law reforms in relation
to living standards and social security.”
That was exemplified by the national disability strategy
published in summer last year, which beyond being, frankly, a lot
of bluff and bluster with no meaningful action, failed to consult
disabled people in an adequate manner. Disabled people need more
than warm words and a surface-level appearance of engagement with
the disabled community. Will the Minister commit to properly
engaging with disabled people and disabled people’s organisations
in planning and implementing all laws and policies that affect
disabled people at home and abroad?
Just last month, the High Court ruled that the UK Government’s
attempt to involve disabled people and disabled people’s
organisations in the consultation that shaped the strategy was
both unlawful and inadequate. The chief executive officer of
Disability Rights UK, speaking about the strategy, said that it
was
“disappointingly thin on immediate actions, medium-term plans and
the details of longer term investment”
and that there were
“scant plans and timescales on how to bring about vastly needed
improvements to benefits, housing, social care, jobs, education,
transport, and equitable access to wider society.”
Some of those issues are devolved, but I am not just talking
about people in Scotland: I want people across the UK, especially
those with disabilities, to have what is their right. I refer to
what I said earlier about challenging targets and how the
Scottish Government try to improve the lives of disabled people.
On 3 February 2022, the Department for Work and Pensions was
refused an opportunity to appeal against the High Court’s ruling.
Notwithstanding what you have already said, Mr Stringer, will the
Minister confirm whether the Department intends to apply for
permission to appeal that decision to the Court of Appeal?
The organisation Sightsavers has raised concerns about the
vagueness of the commitments made at the global disability summit
last week and about a continual lack of transparency on the
implementation of disability inclusion policy by the Foreign,
Commonwealth and Development Office. For example, it has
expressed concern about the UK Government’s commitments to move
from equality awareness to equality transformation, which
encourages collaborative work to empower women and girls, people
with disabilities, and other socially marginalised people. The
commitments made at that summit risk being little more than
aspirational language with no measurable objectives and few or no
financial commitments or plans to report results. While the
Scottish Government welcome the UK Government’s commitment to
fund the Global Action on Disability network, the FCDO has not
made any other financial pledges in its commitments. Without
tangible reporting on the results, they hold very little weight
in upholding the UNCRPD and protecting disability rights on the
global stage, so will the Minister join me in asking the FCDO to
make the monitoring framework and action plan that will accompany
the disability, inclusion and rights strategy available
publicly?
Globally, disabled people are disproportionately impacted by
poverty, natural disasters, healthcare barriers and covid-19, but
they are still excluded from many aid programmes, which do not
take disabled people’s needs into account. Unfortunately, we do
not compare completely favourably in a global context, as here in
the UK, poverty is consistently higher for disabled people.
According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, there is a gap of
around 12 percentage points in poverty rates between disabled and
non-disabled people.
The UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights,
Professor Philip Alston, highlighted in a 2018 statement concerns
about changes to legal aid since 2012, which he said had
“overwhelmingly affected the poor and people with
disabilities”,
meaning that they were
“effectively deprived of their human right to a remedy.”
In November 2020, the UK Government announced that they intended
to spend 0.5% of gross national income on official development
assistance in 2021, down from 0.7% in the seven years from 2013.
An unpublished impact assessment of the reductions, written in
March 2021, reportedly concluded that this would result in a
significant reduction in the number and size of programmes
targeted at women, girls and disabled people.
World Vision found that less than 0.5% of all international aid
targets disability inclusion. Aid was equivalent to less than $1
per person with disabilities in developing economies. The five
most disability inclusion-focused donors target just 3% of their
aid to this purpose. The SNP was front and centre of the attacks
on the Government’s shameful decision to cut aid by over £4
billion this year and by £2.2 billion last year. The unpublished
impact assessment I referred to found that this would result in a
significant reduction in the number and size of programmes
targeted at disabled people. Only six of the 1,161 aid programmes
funded by the UK Government had disability inclusion as their
primary objective in 2018.
The new disability inclusion strategy launched by the FCDO last
week said that it will work to
“accelerate implementation of the UNCRPD”
globally by supporting Governments to fulfil their
responsibilities under the convention through legislation and
development and through improving local accountability
mechanisms.
(Battersea) (Lab)
I congratulate the hon. Member for obtaining this debate; she is
making an excellent opening speech. Would she agree that the UK
Government must lead by example by implementing the convention
here in the UK before they can preach to anybody on the world
stage?
I totally agree with the hon. Member. That is one of the reasons
I wanted this debate. I want the Government to commit. The FCDO’s
new disability inclusion strategy said that it will work to
accelerate the implementation of the UNCRPD globally. Well, as
the hon. Member said, the Government cannot preach to others
about what they have not done themselves. The strategy lacks any
solid financial or measurable commitments to protect disability
rights on the global stage.
Will the Minister join me in asking the FCDO to commit to
tripling the number of aid projects that have disability
inclusion as their primary objective by 2023, prioritising
grassroots disability aid projects and ensuring that disabled
people are not further excluded from global aid? Further, will
she join me in asking the FCDO to commit to including disability
in the eligibility criteria for applying for refugee status in
the UK, in recognition of the disproportionate disadvantages
disabled people face globally?
The UNCRPD seeks to ensure and promote the full realisation of
all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all disabled
people. Being “mindful” of human rights is not enough; the
incorporation of the convention into domestic law will provide
the legal enforcement and protection required. It is time for the
UK Government to follow the UN committee’s recommendations, match
Scotland’s ambition and enshrine the UNCRPD in law, to champion
disability rights on the global stage and here in the UK.
(in the Chair)
This is a 90-minute debate and I intend to call the Front-Bench
spokespeople at around 2.30 pm, so you can do the arithmetic
yourself.
1.50pm
(Oldham East and
Saddleworth) (Lab)
It is, as always, a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr
Stringer.
I congratulate the hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw () on securing this debate,
which is both important and very timely. I absolutely agree with
the central tenets of her excellent speech, and I particularly
agree with her on one point: how can we possibly preach
internationally when we cannot get our own house in order?
However, I want to look at some of the positives. In the current
context of global mayhem—I think that is probably the best way to
refer to what is going on in the world at the moment—it is always
good to see areas, and policy areas in particular, where
countries can unite and show a joint commitment, although, as the
hon. Member said, for the UK to be preaching internationally is
not particularly seemly; let me put it that way.
The hon. Member mentioned the investigation that the UN’s
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities undertook
back in 2016, which happened because of the concern about the
breaches that the UK Government were believed to be making,
contrary to the articles in the UN convention on the rights of
persons with disabilities. As she rightly said, the committee
found that the Government’s policies had led to “grave or
systematic violations” of the rights of disabled people. I gave
evidence to the committee back in 2016, but I will pay tribute to
the hundreds of disabled people and disabled people’s
organisations that really drove the committee’s inquiry.
The committee’s report emphasised the impact of changes to
housing benefit entitlement, eligibility criteria for personal
independence payment and social care, and the closure of the
independent living fund. It showed that the austerity policies
brought in by the Government in 2010 to reduce public spending,
such as the destructive bedroom tax and the damaging cuts to the
social security and social care budgets, are infringing the
rights of disabled people. Despite the rhetoric from successive
Administrations, we have seen sick and disabled people being
failed consistently. And the response to the UN’s findings? The
Government dismissed them out of hand.
In 2017, the committee held a session in Geneva to examine
further the Government’s failures to protect and promote
disability rights. During that session, once again we saw the UK
Government obfuscate and dodge key questions from the committee
that covered all articles in the convention. The UK was
repeatedly told by the committee that it was not a global leader
on disability rights, and the chair stated that cuts to social
protection, which was how the committee referred to social
security in the UK, were a “human catastrophe” that was being
visited on disabled people.
The UK’s human rights watchdog stated that the examination by the
UN had seen a “disconnect” between the UK Government’s replies
and
“lived experiences of disabled people”.
In conclusion, the rapporteur stated that the committee was
“deeply concerned about the lack of recognition of the findings
and recommendations of the conducted inquiry”.
The committee’s “concluding observations” report called on the
Government to
“initiate a process to implement and follow-up the
recommendations issued by the Committee”
in its inquiry report. Unfortunately, that never happened.
Instead, as the hon. Member has already mentioned, we see an
ongoing onslaught against disabled people, or at the very least
action without any consideration of the impact on them, which is
against the CRPD and against our own equality laws.
Just this week, we have seen the lifting of covid restrictions.
Few people know that disabled people were more likely to die of
covid than any other group—60% of covid deaths were of disabled
people. There is an additional burden when we adjust for
underlying conditions. There is still an extra risk that someone
will die just because they are disabled. As the restrictions are
lifted today, what assessment has there been of the impact on
disabled people? Are they and their families being provided with
free testing? What additional support is being provided if they
still have to self-isolate?
Yesterday we had a debate in this very room about how children
are being subjected to sexual exploitation and abuse. We heard
about how those targeted were predominantly children and young
people with disabilities and learning difficulties being groomed
online. Everyone present at that debate—including the
Minister—was rightly outraged. Where there are system failures in
local institutions, councils and the police, they should be
exposed and held to account. But what about the Government’s
culpability? What assessment did they undertake of the risks to
safeguarding, with council and police budgets cut to the
bone?
A few weeks ago, the Government were yet again found to have
unlawfully discriminated against disabled people in two cases. In
view of your initial statement, Mr Stringer, I will not stretch
that point, but I need to make people aware that the first case
was to do with the consultation on the national disability
strategy. I appreciate that the Government intend to appeal in
that case, but the second case upheld an appeal that the
Government had decided to pursue against two severely disabled
men who had been transitioned on to universal credit after having
been on employment and support allowance, with additional support
in disability premiums. They had lost all those premiums, and the
High Court upheld that that was a discriminatory act against
them. The Government decided to appeal that decision, but it was
upheld against them. The hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw
was absolutely right when she said that if the Judicial Review
and Courts Bill is enacted, the first case that I mentioned—the
one on which you, Mr Stringer, have said we must not go into
detail—would not have even happened. That is what this Government
are doing.
Yesterday I heard from a constituent about the only station in my
Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency, which has appalling
access issues. You probably know it, Mr Stringer. It has a
bridge; if someone has mobility issues, there is no way they can
get over it. They can go to Manchester, but they cannot come
back. It has been decided that the disability toilet will be
closed too, which is absolutely outrageous. We have been trying
for years to get the Government to recognise that they are not
enabling proper access for disabled people to go to work, which
is what the Government say they want all disabled people to
do.
It is the attack on disabled people through the social security
system over the last decade that I want to close on. A few weeks
ago, the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2022 was laid
before the House. It announced a 3.1% uplift in social security
support from April, including for disabled people. We know that
inflation is currently running at 5.5% and is estimated to
increase to more than 7% in the spring, which is, in effect, a
real-terms cut in support to social security claimants.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has identified a cut in
support to disabled households of £6,500 since 2010 as a result
of cuts to social security and public services. Accordingly, half
of the households living in poverty have a disabled person living
in them. I recently asked the Work and Pensions Secretary what
assessment had been made of the impact of the 3.1% uprating on
disabled people, but one had not been undertaken. Again, that is
contrary to our equality laws, and it just shows the lack of
commitment to disabled people at home and abroad.
Yesterday, the Work and Pensions Committee took evidence on
pensioners living in poverty. I am sure you will not be
surprised, Mr Stringer, that disabled people are
disproportionately represented in that group as well. There are
sanctions targeted at disabled people, woeful health
assessments—I could go on. Separate from the covid deaths, we
have no idea of the scale of the deaths of disabled people,
because this Government are not making that transparent. It is an
absolute disgrace that our public policies contribute to the
deaths of our most vulnerable citizens.
I have been calling for an independent inquiry into this for a
number of years and I will not stop until that happens. I am
grateful to the hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw for
bringing this debate forward, because this Government’s treatment
of disabled people is an outrage.
2.00pm
(Strangford) (DUP)
I appreciate being called to speak early in the debate, Mr
Stringer. I am nearly always at the end of the queue. I am not
worried about that, by the way—I always think that getting to
speak is more important than when I am called. The good book says
that the first shall be last and the last shall be first; today,
I have been elevated to one of the first, so I am very
pleased.
When the hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw () asked me, as I am sure she
did everyone, “Would you come down and speak?” I did not have to
be asked twice, because this subject is of particular interest to
me. I will mention a couple of things that I think will resonate
with other Members present. I thank the hon. Lady for her
tireless work on behalf of those with disabilities—I want to put
that on the record. It is often said in this House, but she truly
is a disabilities champion. I have heard the word “champion” used
so many times in the Chamber that I think it has lost its
importance, but when I say it today, I mean it. I want her to
know that.
The hon. Lady has perfectly underlined that we have obligations
to those with disabilities. I share her frustration and that of
the hon. Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth (), who is a good friend as
well. I say this respectfully to the Minister and the Government,
but I have seen how the Government pick and choose how they
interpret those obligations. In Northern Ireland, they chose to
interpret the convention on the elimination of all forms of
discrimination against women as a legal obligation; they
circumvented the Northern Ireland Assembly and, in so doing,
circumvented the principle of devolution. That is not what this
debate is about, but I just want to put that on the record.
At the same time, the Government have refused to uphold the
protections to prevent unborn babies from being terminated for a
disability as repairable as a cleft lip. Under their
interpretation, having Down’s syndrome is reason enough not to
live. I find that absolutely unbelievable and reprehensible. I
believe we are witnessing something that is morally wrong, and I
do not think I will ever be able to understand or accept that
rationale. The hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw has outlined
many further failings of this Government pertaining to our
obligations to disabled people.
I want a society where disabled people have the same rights and
opportunities as we have and where they are treated equally. That
is the society I want to live in. Maybe I dream too much, or
maybe, through this debate, we have an opportunity to express the
hope that every one of us can have the same opportunities in
life.
I want to give some examples to illustrate the issues raised by
the hon. Lady, although they are absolutely frustrating. I have a
full-time member of staff in my office who is dedicated solely to
filling out forms for those who are unwell. Unfortunately, she is
never out of work. Her name is Yvonne; she is an important member
of staff. All my staff are important, of course, but Yvonne has a
very important role to play. I wish I could bring her here to
explain in her own down-to-earth way the living nightmare that
some of our disabled people endure to get their disability
benefits.
One of my constituents, Sharon, was born with a severe mental
impairment. I know the young lady and her now elderly parents,
who have cared for her for 50 years. Due to the distressed mental
impairment she has, she used to simply watch the TV and walk up
and down the living room. However, she is now 50, and her
mobility has decreased. After 50 years of being on her feet,
pacing up and down the hall, she needs hip replacements. There is
something seriously wrong when a Government Department questions
whether such an operation is necessary when it is very obvious
that it is. In this case, there was a successful conclusion, but
only after a fight. Everything I do for disabled people is a
fight, and there are always so many obstructions put in front of
us.
Consultants have questioned Sharon’s ability to go through rehab
after the operation and do not feel it will be successful. She
cannot deal with the pain of walking and mentally cannot deal
with sitting down for prolonged periods, because that is how her
condition affects her. Her disability living allowance, as it was
then called, was up for renewal. After that was explained, a
house call was set up and Sharon was asked to do a number of
physical exercises that she was physically and mentally unable to
do. Her parents told me that she screamed for hours afterwards
due to the upset that it caused her. Is that fulfilling our
obligation? No, with great respect, I do not think it is. Her
medical records clearly indicated her difficulties, yet the
form-filling and the check-box exercise put her and her elderly
parents through an awful time getting her benefits, which should
never have been in question.
My brother Keith was injured in a motorbike accident some 18
years ago. It left him unable to do multiple tasks. Every one of
us in this room is blessed. We can walk down to the room below;
we can chat and walk, have a drink and eat a biscuit, use a
mobile phone—we can multitask. He can only do one thing at a
time, let alone fill in all the questionnaires that our mother
and I have to go through as his court appointees. We are
appointed by the court because he does not have the ability to
look after his financial affairs. That is a fact of life; it is
what happens. But then a Department comes along with so many
exercises for someone to go through that they feel downtrodden
and burdened almost before they even start. They are asked, “Can
you stand on one leg?” Keith cannot stand on one leg; he would
fall over. People such as Sharon, the young lady I mentioned, are
asked to do things that they cannot physically do, which should
be clear from their notes.
That is the story of just one of my constituents, many of whom
suffer from mental health issues. They are put through the mill
when a cursory glance at their medical records would show
everything that needs to be shown. I welcome efforts to get those
who are able to work back to work; I want them to do that, and
they want to get back to work too, if possible. But tormenting—I
use that word on purpose—people who are unable to is simply not
acceptable. It is time that our definition of “disabled” gave
more protection than the disability discrimination Act offers at
this stage.
I represented a constituent with ulcerative colitis who worked
for the civil service. She had her DDA form in, but she was still
medically retired at the age of 27. She is a lovely young girl; I
have known her since she was a wee tote, as we would say back
home, and I know her parents very well. The civil service could
not find a flexible way of working around her disability, so I
went to appeal with her as her DLA said she was able to care for
herself. Really? Had they not comprehended the seriousness of the
issue? One Department said, “You’re fine” and another said,
“You’ll never work again,” and the doctor was saying, “Give her
antidepressants to deal with the upset and effect of it all.” I
question whether those Departments work hand in hand.
I know that others want to speak, so let me conclude with this.
How dreadfully sad it is that the Government’s own employees do
not have the flexibility to allow them to stay in work when they
so desperately want to do so, especially now that staff can
easily and effectively work from home.
I commend the hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw, the other
hon. Members who have spoken and those who will contribute later.
I am confident that the Members here today, as well as others who
are not present, have compassion for the people we are here to
help—those with disabilities and those who cannot cope with the
troubles of life in the way that we can. We are privileged to be
Members of Parliament and to be able to help others, and to get
paid to do it. One of my great pleasures is helping people who
are disabled and those who have real problems on the journey of
life that they tread, and today’s debate gives us an opportunity
to do that.
Something must be done about the way that our disabled people are
viewed and treated—not by those speaking in the debate and not by
the Minister, but we really need central Government and the civil
service to have a better grasp. The change needs to start in this
place and work its way down. All the disabled people we are
speaking on behalf of today should have the benefit of a
Government with compassion and a system that understands them,
and should get the help they need when they need it.
2.10pm
(Vauxhall)
(Lab/Co-op)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stringer. I
normally speak before the hon. Member for Strangford (), so it is an honour to follow him this afternoon. I
pay tribute to the hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw () for drawing attention to
this important topic. I want to commend her and my hon. Friend
the Member for Battersea () for ensuring that this
issue is always at the forefront of their campaigning, and for
giving a voice to many constituents across our respective
constituencies. In these two Members of Parliament we see
fantastic champions for disabled people.
As we know, the UN convention on the rights of persons with
disabilities was a landmark treaty, signed in 2007. It places a
positive obligation on Governments to promote the full equality
of disabled people under the law. It is fantastic that over 200
countries recognise the convention. However, I want to take a
moment to reflect on what it says about the place of disabled
people in society, both here and abroad, that we even need to
state that disabled people are fully equal citizens. Surely that
is so obvious that it should not need to be said, but too often
we see disabled people and accessibility treated as an
afterthought. Often it is not conscious discrimination, but a
reflection of how much society is built around those who are not
disabled.
I confess that I was not fully aware of the scale of the issue
until a wheelchair user joined my team. Walking around with him,
even in this place, I have seen at first hand the small everyday
things that he is disadvantaged by: a dropped kerb on the side of
the road that is not matched by the one on the other side, public
venues that do not have a disabled toilet, and light switches
that are placed far too high for him to reach. I could go on, but
my point is that disabled people simply should not have to put up
with workaround solutions to simple everyday activities, such as
turning on lights. These are things that, if we are honest, most
of us in this room take for granted.
Sadly, I have heard from several constituents in Vauxhall who
have invisible disabilities, such as attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder or dyspraxia, who are afraid to speak out
and ask for the support they need in the workplace for fear of
being judged. These experiences are replicated for millions of
people up and down the country who do not have their access needs
met. It will not change until we start to take the UN
convention’s words seriously and proactively consider
accessibility in the planning, design and organisation of
everything we do—it must be front and centre. By fixing problems
with a sticking-plaster here and there, we will never truly live
up to our UN obligations.
Any of us could become disabled at any time, so prioritising
access future-proofs all of us and enables the valued
perspectives of disabled people to be heard. Will the Minister
please ensure that accessibility is no longer treated as an
afterthought, and work on a cross-party basis to deliver the
transformative change that disabled people need and deserve?
2.13pm
(Battersea) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to speak under your stewardship, Mr Stringer. I
congratulate the hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw () on securing this important
debate and on her continued campaigning and championing of such
an important issue.
The UN convention on the rights of disabled people—I will say
disabled people because I subscribe to the social model of
disability, so I will refer to it in that context going
forward—is timely because it follows the global disability
summit, which was the second of its kind. Many of us will
remember that the first summit was hosted by the UK, and I made a
number of comments back then about the Government leading by
example. Disappointingly, we have progressed in years but there
is still no change from the Government.
The convention was established in 2006, and it was the last
Labour Government who ratified it. Twelve years on, there has
been no implementation of it by this Government. As other hon.
Members have asked: why is that?
The pillars of the convention are to ensure health, education,
employment, access to justice and information, personal security
and, most importantly, independent living for disabled people. It
is the benchmark, the blueprint, the gold standard of all policy
making to ensure that disabled people can live independently and
that we have equal rights: it is about equality. If we say that
we are serious about equality, the convention must absolutely be
the blueprint for it.
Unfortunately, during more than a decade of austerity we have
seen cuts to social security, to social care and to every public
service. As I continue to say, that has created a hostile
environment for disabled people. Almost half of people in poverty
in this country are disabled or live with a person who is
disabled. I think we all know, as we proceed further through a
cost of living crisis, that that is only going to get worse. The
convention is clear on support for disabled children, but there
is a gaping funding gap of more than £2 billion in support for
those disabled children. Their families report that they are
struggling to support them without adequate support.
As my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth
() mentioned, the independent
living fund—the clue is in the title—was cut and scrapped, and
was not replaced with a proper independent living fund or support
to enable disabled people to live independently. What is the
Minister doing to support people in social care? Although the
funding that was announced last year is welcome, we all know that
it certainly is not enough, because more than 18,000 people’s
access to care and support has been affected by the cut.
We all know about the social security cuts; we were all here for
the debate about them that I led a few weeks ago. The cuts to
employment and support allowance, which remove the work-related
activity component, and the changes to PIP have made things
incredibly difficult for ill and disabled people. As my hon.
Friend the Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth highlighted, we
need an independent public inquiry into the deaths caused by the
cuts. As we all know, far too many people have lost their
lives—let that sink in—as a result of cuts to their social
security, which is the very thing that is supposed to be a safety
net enabling us to live. Sadly, that is happening on this
Government’s watch.
I appreciate that the Minister is not the Minister for Disabled
People, but ultimately, she is the one who is here and she is
responsible, so I really hope that when she responds, she will
address some of these issues.
As a result of the cuts to all those services and support, the UK
became the first nation state to be investigated for human rights
violations against disabled people. That highlights that
everything we had been lobbying and campaigning for before I even
entered this place was true. I commend the thousands of disabled
people who really fought for that investigation to take place.
What did the UN committee conclude? Members have already said it,
but we cannot say it enough: in 2016, the UK Government were
guilty of “grave or systematic violations” of the rights of
disabled people. I want the Minister and everyone here to let
that sink in. They are some of the most vulnerable people in our
society. How can that be right?
What is more worrying is that since the UN commissioner looked at
independent living, social security, the right to work and so on,
the Government have been required to provide annual updates to
the UN committee, but in last year’s update they failed yet again
to address the main challenges. Why? Why will the Government not
carry out a cumulative impact assessment on all those areas,
including independent living, poverty and inclusion in our
communities and in employment? I and many other Members from
across the House have called for that, but there has been no
progress. The years of inaction raise the question: are the
Government taking that UN inquiry seriously?
We know the impact that the pandemic has had on disabled people;
the numbers do not lie. Six out of 10 covid-related deaths were
of people who had underlying health conditions or were disabled.
That is a scandal. At the start of the pandemic the Government
failed to provide proper signed interpretation; they were found
to be liable for that in the courts—we know that happened. We
also know that the £20 uplift to universal credit was not applied
to those on legacy social security, 2 million of whom were ill
and disabled people.
The pandemic has really shone a light on how badly this
Government are treating disabled people. This week, when the
Prime Minister declared the end of all restrictions, there was
still no plan on how we are going to protect the most vulnerable,
some of who are disabled. Where is this plan and where is the
equality impact assessment? Ultimately the Government do have an
obligation to do that.
Other Members have spoken about the issues around consulting
disabled people and their organisations. I will not go into
detail on the national disability strategy, because the
Government are planning to appeal the High Court decision ruling
it unlawful. Let us be clear: that is just another decision in a
long line of court rulings where the Government were found to be
acting unlawfully against disabled people. The Labour party has
been clear in its support for disabled people, and we will
continue to hold this Government to account for their treatment
of disabled people. As I said at the start, we ratified the UN
convention; it is time for the Government to implement it. I ask
the Minister to tell us why the Government are still choosing not
to, and when they will implement it. Does she agree with all of
us that the convention should be implemented? That would be a
good start.
We disabled people make up a large proportion of the UK
population. We face a cost of living crisis. There are so many
challenges confronting all of us in society, but we must give a
thought to those who are so vulnerable, many of whom are
disabled. I ask the Minister, please, to consider that when she
responds.
2.22pm
(East Renfrewshire)
(SNP)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stringer. I
think it is a really important debate, and I am very pleased that
my hon. Friend the Member for Motherwell and Wishaw () secured the time today and
delivered an excellent speech, which covered many important
issues. I know that she, like the hon. Member for Strangford
(), is very focused on this issue, and I have no doubt
that she will continue to be. I hope that the important questions
that she put to the Minister are answered, because I have no
doubt that she will keep asking them; they really matter. The
other speeches today have underlined why that is the case: the
impact of inaction on the lives of disabled here and across the
world is profound. The additional vulnerabilities that often come
with a disability make that doubly concerning as
we—hopefully—emerge from the covid pandemic.
We have heard from hon. Members about the important voices of
disability organisations. I will take a moment to refer to one of
those located in my constituency. East Renfrewshire Disability
Action group do a powerful job advocating at home, but also for
people further afield, on disability issues. We heard a familiar
tale about access issues; I know that East Renfrewshire
Disability Action group would find that tale very familiar. The
power of the work that goes on, day in and day out, is a
testament to those groups. It should also give us pause for
thought as to why groups of disabled people are having to do the
heavy lifting that should be done in Parliament. The hon. Member
for Oldham East and Saddleworth () spoke very powerfully
about why that matters.
The remarks of the hon. Member for Vauxhall () were key, because she
spoke about big and small things, and why both matter. She spoke
very clearly about why disabled people should not have to put up
with the lack of focus in this place. It speaks ill of us all—and
of our priorities—that that undoubtedly is the case. I commend
her for pointing out the importance of recognising invisible
disabilities in the context of this conversation.
As we all know, and as I am sure the Minister would recognise,
the inequalities that people with disabilities face in everyday
life have been exacerbated during the pandemic. As my hon. Friend
the Member for Motherwell and Wishaw said, in the UK half of
people with a disability live in poverty. Progress in moving that
on in recent years has been very slow, and I fear that covid has
arrested it entirely. My hon. Friend also noted that although the
SNP welcomes the UK Government’s 18 commitments at this year’s
global disability summit, the FCDO has not gone far enough in
that regard. The commitments do not meet the needs of disabled
people.
That takes us to the vexed issue that we have heard about from a
number of hon. Members—the UK Government’s failure to agree to
enshrine in law the United Nations convention on the rights of
persons with disabilities, which the Scottish Government will do.
The hon. Member for Battersea () outlined very well that
the UK Government cannot preach to others when they are not even
taking that very straightforward action themselves. We need to
think about all of that in the context of the new reality that
covid has wrought.
Around 1 billion people in the world are living with a
disability. Some 80% of them are in developing countries, and
there are higher levels of disability among women, the poor and
the elderly. We can read that through to lots of other
vulnerabilities that really exacerbate the situation. We have
noted the reason why that really matters for policy making, but
having listened to the debate so far, my concern is that the UK
Government’s “being mindful” approach is not bold enough, is not
ambitious enough, and will not deal with the inequalities that
people face daily. The hon. Member for Battersea hit the nail on
the head when she talked about that in the context of equality,
which is what this is all about: it is about the lack of equality
for disabled people, which leads to what is often almost a
hostile environment for people to try to navigate. That clearly
should not be the case, but it is the situation that people face
here in the UK and globally. We have a responsibility here to
acknowledge that, and to act. As we heard from the hon. Member
for Oldham East and Saddleworth, the additional vulnerability is
not factored into the UK Government’s decision making. That means
that we are in a somewhat difficult situation in trying to pin
down some of the challenges that people have, which is
extraordinary, because we do not have the data to allow us to do
so.
As my hon. Friend the Member for Motherwell and Wishaw eloquently
set out, the Scottish Government have a number of concerns in
relation to the UK Government’s decision not to enshrine the
UNCRPD in law. Their commitments do not contain enough detail
about measurable objectives; the language is rather vague, to say
the least, so it is difficult for us to see how the UK Government
will be able to provide tangible results. As I said, such things
are not measurable or quantifiable, so I hope the Minister can
say something about my hon. Friend’s questions on that.
We have called for progress on a number of things, and it would
also be good to hear from the Minister on the number of aid
projects that have disability inclusion as their primary
objective, and on the UK’s support for grassroots disability aid
projects. We should ensure that there are proactive steps to
prevent further exclusion of disabled people from global aid, and
we must look at disability in the context of the eligibility
criteria for applying refugee status. Those are only some of the
issues on which the UK Government need to make progress. Of
course, there is also the issue of the percentage spend on
official development assistance, which is something that
underpins all that and is a cause for significant concern. The
reality is that many aid projects are not specifically aimed at
disability inclusion, so disabled people are often left behind in
aid spending.
Whether we are looking here or farther afield, the bottom line is
that poverty is consistently higher for disabled people, and that
impacts on life chances and choices. According to the Joseph
Rowntree Foundation, there is a gap of around 12% in poverty
rates between disabled and non-disabled people.
The hon. Member for Strangford was very powerful in setting out
why, on the domestic front particularly, we need to see progress
to improve the life chances and life choices for disabled people,
and to ensure that basic dignity is available for them. The hon.
Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth spoke very powerfully
about the failures of the UK social security system in terms of
disability. I do not intend to repeat all that she said, but I
hope that the Minister has some responses to her points, because
those issues make such a difference to people’s daily lives.
I would, however, like to speak about the missing employment
Bill, which I would dearly love to see appearing. I have been
saying that for a long time, so I am not sure that I hold out a
huge amount of hope. However, it is important—and increasingly
so, as we move out of the pandemic—that we have the opportunity
to look again at things like flexible working, which can make
such a difference to people’s ability to secure and sustain
employment. That kind of issue, which really has a profound
effect on the lives of disabled people, is an illustration of why
all the elements of policy need to be considered by the UK
Government when they are looking at disability and how best to
move things forward.
I will conclude by asking that the Minister responds to the key
questions that have been put. I am reinforcing that this issue
really matters, because the impact on people’s lives cannot be
understated. Disabled people need far more than our warm words
and positive sentiments. We must ensure that we are taking action
that goes right below the surface to improve the lives of people
here and across the world. The best way to start doing that is
for the UK Government to step up, enshrine the convention in law,
and take some of the clear, positive steps set out today.
2.32pm
(Reading East) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. I
thank everyone who has contributed today. I highlight in
particular the work of the hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw
(), and congratulate
colleagues from across the House, including my hon. Friends the
Members for Battersea (), for Vauxhall () and for Oldham East and
Saddleworth (), and, indeed, the hon.
Member for Strangford (), on their contributions. I am grateful to them for
raising such important issues.
I also pay tribute both to disabled people and to the
organisations that represent them. In particular, I thank those
who carry out important work in the constituency of Reading East,
which I have the privilege of representing, both in the town of
Reading and in the neighbouring town of Woodley.
It is important that the decisions we take in this House are led
by disabled people and experts, and informed by experience. As we
have heard, in 2009 the UK pledged to follow the United Nations
convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, on the
basis that it protects and promotes the human rights of disabled
people, including by eliminating disability discrimination,
enabling disabled people to live independently in the community,
ensuring an inclusive education system and that disabled people
are protected from all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse.
I am glad that that there is agreement across the House on that,
and we are right to seek to take it forward. I believe that we
must go much further in our efforts to uphold human rights and
equality for disabled people, and that is why the UN convention
on the rights of disabled people should now be incorporated into
British law.
I should also add that I am proud of the last Labour Government’s
record on improving the lives of people with disabilities,
whether in cutting NHS waiting times, introducing free bus
travel—a subject very dear to my heart, as those who know me well
may remember—and introducing the Equality Act 2010. We know that
well-designed policies, implemented and resourced well, and
delivered properly, can transform the lives of disabled
people.
I also pay tribute to the individual efforts of many Ministers
and Government staff and Back Benchers during the years of the
coalition and Conservative Governments. However—and I would like
the Minister to reflect on this—there is so much more we should
be doing.
Figures published last month show that 1 million more disabled
people are trapped in hardship than were a decade before. Data
from the Department for Work and Pensions reveal that 3.8 million
disabled people live in poverty. We have heard eloquently from
colleagues today about the pressure that that puts on disabled
people and their families. I am sure that that is a trend that
colleagues across the House would like to reverse.
As the hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw said, it is worth
considering that a recent report by the Oxford University
disability law and policy project and the Bonavero Institute of
Human Rights found that there has been a
“failure of the government to implement properly its legal duties
with respect to the rights of people with disabilities.”
That is set against the backdrop of a significant lack of
appropriate support for disabled people during the pandemic.
Almost 2 million ill and disabled people did not receive any
additional support, despite the fact that disabled people on
average face additional costs of £583 per month. In addition, as
was said earlier, while universal credit was temporarily
increased by £20 a week—we supported that decision and indeed
campaigned for it to continue—it is important to note that other
social security support such as the employment and support
allowance and the jobseeker’s allowance were not increased. The
pandemic has hit everyone in our community, but it is wrong that
it should have a particularly hard impact on disabled people. I
am afraid that that lack of support is part of a wider picture of
the Government failing to give disabled people the support that
they need.
I appreciate the point you made earlier, Mr Stringer, about the
sub judice nature of some of the issues with the national
strategy for disabled people, so I will try to stick to the
ruling that you rightly made, but I will say that there were two
years of delay before the strategy was published in July 2021.
Even when it did arrive, it appeared not to be the bold strategy
that so many people had looked forward to, but more a series of
unrelated announcements, with only £4 million of extra money
pledged for disabled people, which amounts to just under £30 for
each disabled person in the UK, a relatively modest amount.
Disabled people and the organisations representing them said that
they felt excluded from the process and had not been consulted
when the strategy was drawn up.
That is all deeply disappointing. The Government could and should
do so much better. I ask the Minister to look at that again in
much greater detail with her colleagues—I appreciate that it is
not her area of responsibility—and, collectively, to change their
approach fundamentally, to give disabled people the support that
they so clearly need.
Eliminating disability discrimination, enabling disabled people
to live independently in the community, ensuring an inclusive
education system and that disabled people are protected from all
forms of exploitation, violence and abuse must be a priority for
all of us. The Government should now incorporate the UN
convention into UK law. That important legal change will have
real effect in the everyday lives of disabled people.
It has been a privilege to speak today and to contribute to this
important debate. Once again, I thank colleagues from across the
House who have also contributed, and I thank disabled people and
the organisations that represent them. I hope that the Minister
will take on board the points made by colleagues from across the
House and respond by letting us know how the Government plan to
address these very serious issues.
2.38pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
()
I, too, congratulate the hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw
() on securing this debate on
the importance of the United Nations convention on the rights of
persons with disabilities. It is a pleasure to respond, and I
thank all hon. Members for their insightful contributions. I am
here on behalf of the Minister for Disabled People, who is
disappointed that she cannot be here today, due to a medical
appointment.
The principles in the UN convention are at the heart of the
Government’s approach. We remain fully committed to the treaty,
which we ratified in 2009, as has been mentioned, and to our
obligations under it. No one wants to see any of their
constituents held back from fulfilling their potential. I
reassure all hon. Members that the UK Government and the devolved
Administrations share the common goal to improve the lives of
disabled people in the UK.
Will the Minister give way?
I will just make some progress, if I may. I would also like to
share with the House that for nearly 30 years, my father lived
with an acquired brain injury due to a criminal incident at work.
It turned us into a family who cared, and I applaud all unpaid
and family carers for all they do with the utmost love and
care.
First, I will speak to the action we are taking as a Government
to improve the lives of disabled people. In July 2021, we
published the national disability strategy. Of course, we have
sought permission to appeal and cannot comment further on any
legal proceedings, but it is really important to highlight the
five essential elements of that strategy, which complement those
of the UN convention and underpin how we will continue to
implement it in the UK. Those elements are to ensure fairness and
equality; to consider disability from the outset; to support
independent living; to work to increase participation by disabled
people in all aspects of society; and to recognise that complex
challenges will very often require joined-up local solutions.
I extend my best wishes to the Minister’s father. What she has
said about what he went through was very moving, and reminds us
that eight out of 10 disabilities are acquired—that most disabled
people have lived lives without disability. The Minister started
by saying that we want disabled people to fulfil their potential.
Do the Government believe that there is a social model of
disability, in that society puts up barriers that prevent
disabled people from living their lives? It is not up to disabled
people to enable themselves; it is also about society, via the
Government, ensuring that those barriers are not there.
(in the Chair)
Just before the Minister responds, I remind hon. Members that
interventions should be short and to the point. We have had
plenty of time in this debate, but I hope hon. Members will bear
that in mind.
Thank you, Mr Stringer, and I thank the hon. Lady for her kind
words. It was quite ironic that during his working life, my
father was the first person to put in supported disabled
crossings for people with blindness, and became blind later in
life due to his acquired injury. It is very important for all of
us in policy making to understand that people are not necessarily
born with a disability or a health condition.
The hon. Lady mentioned her train station. We have similar access
issues in East Grinstead in my constituency, and we are trying to
improve them. The Department for Transport also has an access
programme under way, so she may want to look at that.
I echo the points made by my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham
East and Saddleworth (), and commend the Minister
for sharing her father’s story. Is the Minister aware, however,
that we were supposed to meet our obligation to deliver an
accessible transport service by 2020, but we failed to meet that
target? The Access for All fund was very welcome, but we are not
doing very well when it comes to making our stations more
accessible.
The hon. Lady makes an important point: I have not even mentioned
my Wivelsfield station, so the reality is that we still have work
to do. I know that my hon. Friend the Rail Minister, the hon.
Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (), is very committed to
that.
The hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw, who opened the debate
so eloquently, asked about committing to spending on aid
projects, and I will address that later in my speech. I am trying
to cover various points, so I hope hon. Members will bear with me
while I make progress.
Alongside the Government’s national disability strategy, we have
published the health and disability Green Paper and the
Government’s response to the “Health is everyone’s business”
consultation on minimising the risk of ill health and related job
loss. Those publications demonstrate that we are taking a
holistic approach to improving the lives of individuals living
with disability. I think it is important for anybody listening
and engaging with this debate to notice and to know that progress
is being made. Of course, there is always more to do.
Significant progress has been outlined in the national disability
strategy. At the DWP, we have piloted the adjustments passport,
which supports disabled people’s transition into employment. The
passport is personalised to the individual and captures in-work
support needs, enabling the employer to have an informed
conversation with the passport holder—we have just heard about
flexible working. In addition, the Department for Business,
Energy and Industrial Strategy has launched an online advice hub
offering accessible information and advice on employment rights
for disabled people.
BEIS has also completed a consultation on making flexible
working—we have seen hybrid working too—the default in Great
Britain unless employers have good reasons not to offer it, and
it is reviewing the responses. I think that consultation is
crucial and necessary. The pandemic has given us an opportunity
to bust the myth of presenteeism and show that, moving forward,
many sectors can be flexible and work in a hybrid way and can
absolutely be inclusive of people who are disabled or living with
a health condition. That will make opportunities so much more
accessible for our constituents, which is what we all want.
I want to turn to the comments made by the hon. Member for Oldham
East and Saddleworth on the pandemic. Since the start of the
pandemic, the Government have worked hard to ensure that disabled
people have access to employment support, disability benefits,
financial support, food, medicines and vaccines, as well as
accessible communications and guidance. I, like other Members,
had constituents asking for all of that and more, and I am glad
that we have been able to respond.
Of course, the NHS is offering new antibody and antiviral
treatments for people with covid-19 who are at greater risk of
becoming seriously ill, such as those who are immunosuppressed or
face other risks. There is separate guidance and there will be
additional boosters coming forward as well, which many of our
constituents may be eligible for. It is important that we let
people know, whoever they are and whatever is going on in their
lives, that when it comes to the challenges of living well out of
the covid-19 pandemic, we recognise that we must understand the
impact on those with a disability or health condition. We are
absolutely committed to that.
The Prime Minister made clear in launching the national strategy
that we fully recognise the need not only to deliver on our
near-term commitments but to go further. I can assure the House
that we are doing so. As an example, in the autumn 2021 spending
review, we provided an extra £1 billion via the Department for
Education to support children and young people with more complex
needs, including those with a disability. That will bring the
total high-needs budget next year to over £9 billion.
It has been mentioned that work is an important part of disabled
people’s lives. It is absolutely right that we in the DWP place
the emphasis on supporting people into work where possible. Of
course, we know how valuable that is. It is more than just a pay
packet; it is camaraderie, friendship, and a reason to get up and
get going. It makes such a difference to be part of a team and to
achieve what we are able to achieve. I am passionate that,
whoever someone is, wherever they are and whatever barriers to
progression they may face, if they are able to work, they should
be well supported to fulfil their potential by the Government,
the community and jobcentres.
On that point, it is also important that employers understand
their responsibility to ensure that their employee is respected
in every way and has the opportunities that every other employee
has.
I thank the hon. Gentleman for making that really important
point. I recently had some engagement with the construction
industry about really good, inclusive work practices, reaching
out and being more equal. For example, 50% of the
population—females—is under-represented in the sector.
Many employers often do the same recruitment and end up with the
same people. They want to be more inclusive; they want the
different voices and experiences that we have found so important
this afternoon, but unfortunately we end up recruiting the same
people because recruitment processes are not open and wide
enough. We need to do more.
I wanted to put that on the record because the Minister is right.
A recent headline said:
“Swindon man with Down’s syndrome gets scaffolding
apprenticeship”.
There is an example of what can happen if you put your mind to
it.
I have found this through our 160-plus youth hubs at DWP. Many
people have neurodiversity. Young people have been very anxious
and nervous. It has been really great to give people that
“can-do” experience; it makes such a difference, in terms of
being inclusive. People with a disability or a health condition
are absolutely perfect for some jobs, and it will be right for
them to be in that workplace. Let us challenge employers. Let us
not just talk about it, but push for action. I am proud that DWP
has led the way in supporting disabled people by recognising what
they need in order to get into employment. We are there to
help.
The Minister has spoken enthusiastically about employment, and I
agree about the value of ensuring that everyone can secure the
employment opportunities that they absolutely deserve. Can she
shed any light on the employment Bill mentioned earlier, which
would assist us?
I thank the hon. Lady. If the Bill fell in my portfolio and that
of my Department, I could shed many lights on it, but I am afraid
it sits with BEIS. I am sure that it will take note of the hon.
Lady’s query.
On levelling up opportunities, the work and health programme
offers intensive personalised employment support, and we are
working with the NHS to improve access to psychological therapy
services across England. There are also measures under the access
to work scheme, which provides employees with grants of up to
£62,900 a year for workplace adaptations, such as special
equipment, support workers and help to get to and from work. Last
financial year, almost 36,000 people with disabilities and health
conditions received tailored and flexible support to do their job
under access to work. Not enough people know that that is out
there, and I am pleased to make the point today.
Disability Confident is another really important part of the
package. We talked about employers seeing the value of having a
mixed group of people in their workplace. It is a voluntary,
business-led scheme, designed to give employers the knowledge,
skills and free resources they need to recruit and retain
disabled people, and to help them to develop their skills. As of
30 September, over 20,000 employers were actively engaged with
the scheme, which covers more than 11 million employees. It is
right that we push harder on this, and we will do that through
our national employer partnership.
The Minister talks about the Disability Confident scheme. More
than 4 million disabled people of working age want to work. While
she may applaud the 35,000 figure, it is not enough. An employer
can be a Disability Confident employer and not employ a single
disabled person. What quality assurance and monitoring is there
to ensure that the scheme will provide for disabled people? At
the moment, I am not confident in it.
I thank the hon. Lady for making that point. If I may, I will let
the Minister for disabled people, my hon. Friend the Member for
Norwich North (), pick up on that issue and
write to her.
I turn to international engagement—the hon. Lady who introduced
the debate, the hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw, would be
upset if I did not. It is right to emphasise that the UK has a
proud record of furthering the rights of disabled people. We have
not got it all right, but we are using our overseas development
work to go further, and we always have to do more. The UK is a
leading global voice on disability inclusion; it hosted the first
ever global disability summit, which was mentioned.
Will the Minister give way again on that point?
I need to make progress. I may try to come back to the hon.
Lady.
In the same year, we also launched the disability inclusion
strategy, setting out our priorities for social protection,
economic development, education and humanitarian action. On our
commitments to progress on disability inclusion in the FCDO’s
diplomacy, policy and programming—
Will the Minister give way?
I am speaking, if I may. The hon. Member for Motherwell and
Wishaw will be pleased to know that we are publishing on gov.uk
all the details of the ways in which we absolutely are being more
inclusive in our aid programme. I hope that is something she will
ask for. On our support for global disability rights, we have
committed to spending £10 billion in 2021-22, making the UK’s
official development assistance, as I mentioned,
disability-inclusive. I am very pleased to see that coming
forward. We are absolutely committed to implementing the
convention through our strong policies. [Hon. Members: “Will the
Minister give way?”] I have given way enough, thank you.
On the treaties that were mentioned, the Government are
absolutely sure that the substantive provisions are already
largely reflected in our existing domestic policies and
legislation right across the UK. We note the recommendations, but
the Government’s approach is to put in place a combination of
policies and legislation to give effect to the UN human rights
treaties that we have already ratified.
I need to give the hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw some
time to respond, so I will try to do that, after making a final
point. I would like to underline fully this Government’s
commitment to the convention on the rights of persons with
disabilities, and to transforming the lives and opportunities of
disabled people, both in the UK and internationally. We are
unwavering, and I hope that the announcements last week will sit
right with those listening today. We will continue with the
wide-ranging commitments made in the national disability
strategy. We will consider how we can build on that and go
further, making sure that disabled people’s lives are better
every day, and we will do that in the context of a central goal:
to level up, and to create a society that is more positive, more
engaging, and fairer for all, where everybody can get on and
progress.
2.57pm
I congratulate the Minister on her robust defence of what I will
not refer to as the indefensible, though that is there in my
thoughts. She has done a grand job—she has a job, and she has
done it—but unfortunately she has not convinced anybody on this
side of the Chamber with her arguments.
One of my main asks was: does the Minister agree that the
Government should enshrine the UNCRPD in law? If that was done,
then lots of other things would follow from it. Warm thoughts and
good intentions from the Government are great, and I am really
pleased that the Government have them, but we really need hard
law to make all these things possible. The Minister referred to
the employment Bill—where is it?—and access to work, which is the
subject of another debate that I will apply for. Hon. Members
have reflected on the effects of austerity, too.
I will raise one other issue: the Government’s silo mentality.
The Minister had a hard job, because there was discussion of FCDO
and DWP—and she also managed to bring in BEIS. Again, I go back
to the importance of enshrining the UNCRPD in law, because then
Departments would almost be forced to work together.
Something the Minister said struck me. She said that people
should be treated fairly and equally. We heard from the hon.
Member for Strangford (), among others, about how people applying for PIP and
other DWP benefits are assessed. Could the Government please
start treating disabled people with dignity, fairness and
respect? That would go a long way towards making things different
for disabled people, here and further afield.
Question put and agreed to.
Resolved,
That this House has considered the United Nations Convention on
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
|
