The Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Disability Dr Lisa Cameron MP has joined Disabled People's Organisations in criticising the lack of substance in the Government's National Strategy for Disabled People.
She said: "As Chair of the APPG on Disability, I welcome the UK Government’s commitment to improving the lives of people with disabilities.
"However, over the last 16 months, I have met with countless charities and disabled people’s organisations, so I know people with disabilities have pinned their hopes on this strategy.
"That’s why I am concerned that, despite taking two years to develop, this is not the strategy disabled people deserve.
"Despite being over 120 pages, the national strategy contains few substantive policy recommendations, instead offering consultations on key areas of policy such as Disability Confident and disability employment reporting. The document promises the government will report back on these consultations by the end of the year. I will be monitoring this situation closely and will hold the government to account to ensure at this point it produces policies of genuine substance.
"I believe 46% of the ministerial disability champions highlighted in the strategy are not even registered Disability Confident employers. If the government can’t get the small details right, how can we expect them to deliver convincingly on the bigger picture?
"In July last year, the Prime Minister wrote to me promising an ambitious and transformative national disability strategy. From what I have seen so far, this falls short and has a long way to go to ensure it lives up to this promise."
DR UK is the Secretariat for the APPG.