Ministers say thank you for all responses to the Improving Lives green paper

Wed,22 March 2017
News Education

Penny Mordaunt MP, Minister for Disabled People, Health & Work and Nicola Blackwood MP, Minister for Public Health and Innovation ‘delighted’ at the high level of involvement.

Thousands of disabled people and organisations have responded to this Green Paper, examining ways of halving the disability employment gap. We would like to thank those members and others who contributed to our own response.

Disability Rights UK made 25 recommendations in our submission to the DWP, Health and Disability Green Paper “Improving Lives”

Ministers’ letter

View pdf of letter

Penny Mordaunt MP

Minister for Disabled People, Health & Work

Nicola Blackwood MP

Minister for Public Health and Innovation

We are delighted with the high level of involvement we’ve experienced throughout the Green Paper consultation process and we’d like to thank you for your help and support in achieving this.

Many of you have worked with us to raise the profile of the consultation and in seeking the views of a wide range of organisations and individuals. We are grateful to everyone who got involved - individuals taking time to share their personal experiences, partners hosting national and local stakeholder workshops, organisations running online forums with their members, people attending consultation meetings and events and responding with views to the consultation.

As a result of these combined efforts, the Work and Health Unit was able to gather views from more than a hundred events across England, Scotland and Wales during the consultation period.

The Work and Health Unit has received thousands of consultation responses from individuals, disability charities, employers, health and care professionals, employability organisations, service commissioners and providers, and others. The large number of responses from individuals has been particularly important to us, ensuring that the views of disabled people and those with health conditions are at the centre of what we do.

Stakeholders were invited to provide their views through a digital survey on Citizen Space and people were also able to email the Consultation Team. Responses were received from a broad cross section of individuals and organisations through both channels.

We are now considering all we have heard during the consultation and will be considering how we can best work to transform the employment prospects of disabled people and people with long-term health conditions in the future. As we said in the Green Paper, Government can’t do this alone and we all have a role to play. So whilst the consultation has closed, the conversation needs to continue.

Thank you again for your engagement in the consultation, and we look forward to continuing to work with you, including through our Work and Health Expert Advisory Group, as we develop our plans in the light of the consultation.