Today in Parliament, 23 May, Stephen questioned the Government about its treatment of disabled benefit claimants, after the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched an investigation into the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) yesterday.
The EHRC is the UK’s independent human right’s regulator. Yesterday, it launched an investigation into the DWP over suspicions that the Government had broken equality law by failing to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people with learning disabilities and long-term mental health conditions during health assessments.
The EHRC first began investigating the DWP in 2021. It initially tried to sign a legally binding agreement with the DWP to address its concerns. However, negotiations to bring about an agreement failed, leading to yesterday’s announcement.
Stephen questioned the Government about the investigation and the negotiations. He pointed out that, now the negotiations had ended, the Government is free to share information about the negotiations.
“Confidence of disabled people in the department is at a terribly, terribly low ebb,” Stephen said. “At the very least, we need some explanation of the department’s view of why it has not been possible to reach an agreement [with the EHRC].”