Today, Mims Davies MP and Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work Launches the Disability Action Plan:
"This government is determined to transform the everyday lives and experiences of disabled people for the better.
Over 1 in 5 people in the UK are disabled. We want to tackle the barriers that prevent disabled people from fully benefiting from and engaging in our society. That means making this country the most accessible place in the world for disabled people to live, work and thrive.
To achieve this, we are working closely and collaboratively with disabled people and disability stakeholders.
Whether it’s hearing from the Disabled People’s Organisations Forum England, the Disability Charities Consortium and the Regional Stakeholder Network about their members’ concerns and priorities, visiting state-of-the-art initiatives with the Disability and Access Ambassadors, working with the British Sign Language (BSL) Advisory Board on issues affecting BSL users, or talking with individuals or small groups at meetings, visits and events, we have made it a priority to learn directly from disabled people. Disabled people know better than anyone else what matters most to them.
This approach lies at the heart of everything we do. It has shaped the development of this Action Plan, and is central to how we will take actions forward – by working collaboratively with disabled people, amplifying their voices, and taking action to embed disability-inclusive approaches on the issues that disabled people care about most.
Just over a year ago, to mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the government announced that we were going to develop a new Disability Action Plan, setting out the immediate actions the government would take in 2023 and 2024 to improve disabled people’s lives.
And we wanted to give everyone – particularly disabled people, disabled people’s organisations and other interested parties – the chance to have their say. That is why we published the draft plan in July 2023 alongside the accessible consultation.
In the draft plan, we shared our proposals for 12 areas where we felt that we could take immediate action to improve disabled people’s everyday lives, or to lay the foundations of longer term change.
As we said at the time, that consultation was not meant to be the end of a journey. Rather, it was a first step – and a chance to make sure that we were heading in the right direction.
Over the course of the consultation, over 1,300 people shared their thoughts with us. I’m immensely grateful to every single person who took the time to respond to the consultation, whether by answering the questions online or sending in their thoughts by email, phone or post. We are publishing an independent analysis of those responses today alongside this plan.
I would also like to thank all of those who gave their time to attend one or more of the many events we held throughout the consultation period, and to share their invaluable insights.
Every response – every comment, thought and suggestion – has helped us to shape and strengthen the final Disability Action Plan so that it can achieve the greatest possible impact.
Having taken the time to listen, to discuss and to engage, we are now moving straight to action. I am determined that we will deliver every one of these proposals.
To track our progress, we will publish 2 updates to Parliament and on GOV.UK after 6 months and 12 months.
We know that disabled people face barriers across many areas of their lives. It is therefore vital that we continue to take concerted action across the government to improve disabled people’s lives and ensure disabled people can participate fully in society.
From support with the cost of living through Help for Households, to plans for education through the SEND and alternative provision improvement plan, from reforms to employment and welfare through the Transforming Support: Health and Disability White Paper and the upcoming Back to Work Plan (PDF), to strategies to improve health and social care through the People at the Heart of Care White Paper and the development of the new British Sign Language (BSL) GCSE, there is already significant work being taken forward across government in areas that disabled people have told us are a priority.
Over the last few years, this government has delivered real improvements for disabled people. We have supported the passage of 2 landmark pieces of legislation, the British Sign Language (BSL) Act and the Down Syndrome Act, delivered an additional £1 billion in 2022 and 2023 for the education of children and young people with more complex needs and launched an online advice hub on employment rights for disabled people.
We have improved the Access to Work programme, introduced a new Passenger Assist app supporting thousands of rail users and strengthened the Victims’ Code with enhanced entitlements for disabled people. We updated the National Design Guide and published the National Model Design Code to set out the characteristics of well-designed places and to help local planning authorities to prepare their own local design codes, and made the King Charles III England Coast Path as easy as possible for disabled people to use – over 2,260 miles of the path have now been approved, with 1,040 miles open.
And we have seen 1.3 million more disabled people in work now than in 2017 – delivering a government commitment 5 years early.
This Disability Action Plan will complement this work, delivering real improvements to disabled people’s everyday lives.
I look forward to working with my colleagues across government, the Ministerial Disability Champions, to drive progress on the immediate areas of action in the plan as well as on the complementary commitments in the National Disability Strategy, which sets out the long-term vision, and other long-term reform programmes across government.
There is no time to waste. As this plan sets out, we will take immediate action now, and in the coming months, to achieve real, tangible improvements for disabled people.
Together, we can unlock opportunities so that more disabled people can reach their potential, and change disabled people’s lives for the better."
