The Cabinet Office has refused to release information that would confirm how little the last government was planning to spend on its much-criticised short-term plan that it claimed would improve disabled people’s lives.
The plan, which contained 32 actions across 14 areas, was launched in February by Mims Davies, the Conservative minister for disabled people, following a 12-week public consultation.
But now the new Labour government is refusing to release details about how much – or how little – the Conservative government thought its Disability Action Plan would cost to implement.
The refusal is important, because it adds to evidence (see separate story) that the new Labour government is set to continue the Conservative policy of refusing to release key information about its policies to address disability inequality.
The Conservative government claimed earlier this year that its plan set out the “immediate action” it would take in 2024 to “improve disabled people’s lives, laying the foundations for longer term change, and complementing the long-term vision set out in [its National Disability Strategy]”.
But all 32 actions appeared to be low- or zero-budget measures, and the plan was described by disabled people’s organisations as “lacklustre”, “weak”, and just a list of “empty promises”.
Disability News Service (DNS) submitted a freedom of information request in February for the cost of each of the 32 policies included in the plan, but the Cabinet Office said it did not have this information.
It later admitted it had made an “initial assessment of estimated costs”.
DNS submitted a fresh request seeking this “initial assessment”, but the Cabinet Office – after initially delaying its response until after the general election – has now refused to release this information.
The now Labour-controlled Cabinet Office claimed that providing the estimated cost of the last government’s Disability Action Plan would “weaken Ministers’ ability to discuss controversial and sensitive topics free from premature public scrutiny”.
It admitted that there was “a general public interest in disclosure of information and we recognise that openness in government may increase public trust in and engagement with the government”.
But it said it had concluded that “the balance of the public interest favours withholding this information”.
DNS has now requested a review of this decision.
A spokesperson for the Cabinet Office’s Equality Hub declined to add to its freedom of information response.
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