Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 4
4
Accepted
Paragraph: 27
Improve government engagement with disabled groups, listening and acting on their input.
Recommendation
Disabled people and groups continue to feel excluded from having meaningful input into policies directly affecting them. This suggests the Government has not learnt lessons from the concerns raised over the development of the National Disability Strategy and that its efforts to engage are perceived to be superficial. The Government needs to improve its engagement with disabled groups, to listen to and act on what disabled people want, if its policies on improving their lives are to be effective.
Government Response Summary
The government states that its existing stakeholder engagement framework, which includes regular meetings with disabled people's organizations, regional networks, and charities, already ensures meaningful input from the disability sector, effectively addressing the recommendation.
Paragraph Reference:
27
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
This recommendation would effectively replicate the DU’s existing stakeholder engagement framework. The framework has been designed to ensure that voices across the disability sector (disabled people and their communities and organisations, charities, business leaders) are meaningfully considered throughout the development, implementation and evaluation of the DU’s work, from the earliest opportunity. The framework centres on the DU’s relationship with four major stakeholder groups: • Disabled People’s Organisation (DPO) Forum England - Since spring 2022, representatives from DPO Forum England have met DU officials monthly, and the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work quarterly, to discuss the Forum’s views, questions, or concerns about specific government policies and their impact on disabled people. The DU also connects the Forum to colleagues in other departments. Recent examples of this include the development of the Retained EU Law Act, DWP’s consultation on Workplace Capability Assessments, the government’s #AskDontAssume disability perceptions campaign, and DHSC’s Care And Support statutory guidance. • Regional Stakeholder Network (RSN) - Each RSN Chair meets one-to-one with a DU official every six weeks. The entire Chair cohort meets the DU monthly to discuss and compare issues within their regions and to hear information to cascade to the wider RSN membership. The Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work meets RSN Chairs quarterly to understand regional issues facing disabled people across England. The DU also connects RSN Chairs to colleagues in other departments. Recent examples of this include an accessibility assessment of King Charles III’s Coronation, our #AskDontAssume disability perceptions campaign, the Disabled Persons’ Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC), and DWP’s Autism Employment Review. In addition to these and other groups like the Disability Charities Consortium and Disability and Access Ambassadors, the DU regularly undertakes visits, engages with disabled individuals, and plans new initiatives such as disabled people’s experience panels to further enhance policy development and understanding.