• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advice/Information
  • About DNS
  • Subscribe to DNS
  • Advertise with DNS
  • Support DNS
  • Contact DNS

Disability News Service

the country's only news agency specialising in disability issues

  • Home
  • Independent Living
    • Arts, Culture and Sport
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Employment
    • Housing
    • Transport
  • Activism & Campaigning
  • Benefits & Poverty
  • Politics
  • Human Rights
You are here: Home / Archives for Helen Whately

Helen Whately

Tory trio mislead party conference on disability benefits as they stir up hostility towards disabled claimants

By John Pring on 9th October 2025 Category: Benefits and Poverty

Tory trio mislead party conference on disability benefits as they stir up hostility towards disabled claimants
Listen

A trio of leading Tories have used misleading and offensive statements at their annual conference in Manchester to scapegoat disabled people who rely on support from the benefits system and whip up hostility towards them. The Conservative party made it clear […]

Government scraps plans to improve accessible housing scheme

By John Pring on 6th July 2023 Category: Housing

Government scraps plans to improve accessible housing scheme
Listen

The government has abandoned its pledge to consult on three improvements to the scheme that funds disabled people to make access improvements to their homes, Disability News Service can reveal. Ministers promised in their People at the Heart of Care white […]

Government admits to ‘limited’ understanding of home-based care abuse

By John Pring on 15th June 2023 Category: Crime

Government admits to ‘limited’ understanding of home-based care abuse
Listen

The government has admitted it has a “limited” understanding of the abuse of disabled people at the hands of their carers and care workers in their own homes. The government review calls for a “stronger” response to protect disabled and older […]

MPs fail to question minister on care charges ‘national scandal’

By John Pring on 4th May 2023 Category: Independent Living

MPs fail to question minister on care charges ‘national scandal’
Listen

MPs have been criticised for failing to question the social care minister about the “national scandal” of tens of thousands of disabled people across England who have been left in debt because they cannot pay their care charges. Helen Whately was […]

Three ministers duck parliamentary questions on lifesaving blackout plans

By John Pring on 17th November 2022 Category: Politics

Three ministers duck parliamentary questions on lifesaving blackout plans
Listen

Ministers from three separate government departments have refused to say if they have any plans to protect disabled people who need electricity to run lifesaving medical equipment in their homes if there are power blackouts this winter. Ministers from the Department […]

Pursglove looks set to be fourth minister for disabled people in 14 months

By John Pring on 3rd November 2022 Category: Politics

Pursglove looks set to be fourth minister for disabled people in 14 months
Listen

The government appears to be set to announce Corby MP Tom Pursglove as the fourth minister for disabled people in just 14 months. Although the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has not yet announced the portfolios of its latest set […]

Minister defends taking five months to produce supported living COVID guidance

By John Pring on 4th September 2020 Category: Independent Living

Minister defends taking five months to produce supported living COVID guidance
Listen

A health minister has been asked why her department took five months to produce guidance that aims to protect disabled people in supported living services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Helen Whately, the social care minister, was challenged over why her department […]

Coronavirus: Kendall promises to challenge minister over lack of PA guidance

By John Pring on 16th April 2020 Category: Independent Living

Coronavirus: Kendall promises to challenge minister over lack of PA guidance
Listen

Labour’s new shadow social care minister has pledged to challenge her opposite number over the government’s continuing failure to publish guidance that would help disabled people protect themselves during the coronavirus crisis. Liz Kendall, who was appointed to the role this […]

Primary Sidebar

On the left of the image are multiple heads of different colours - white, aqua, red, light brown, and dark green - all grouped together, then the words ‘Join our campaign for a decent life for Disabled people. Campaign for Disability Justice’
Image of front cover of The Department, showing a crinkled memo with the words 'Restricted - Policy. The Department. How a Violent Government Bureaucracy Killed Hundreds and Hid the Evidence. John Pring.' Next to the image is a red box with the following words in white: 'A very interesting book... a very important contribution to this whole debate' - Sir Stephen Timms, minister for social security and disability. plutobooks.com and the Pluto Press logo.

Access

Latest Stories

Scores of DWP failings linked to deaths were kept from MPs voting on benefit cuts, secret reports reveal

DWP staff ignored rules on how to respond to claimants who report suicidal thoughts, secret reports reveal

New official figures disprove claims that social security spending is ‘spiralling out of control’

Changes to energy bill discount scheme will discriminate against many disabled people, campaigners warn

Disabled peer hits back at claims of ‘filibustering’ over ‘vague’ and ‘poorly drafted’ assisted suicide bill

Government-owned train company has been failing on disability awareness training for more than four years

Government’s ‘generational’ SEND reforms will leave more children in segregated settings

SEND reforms ‘are a missed opportunity’ to dismantle the barriers driving disabled pupils from mainstream

Disabled activists call on Clooney to abandon movie that is set to paint Alzheimer’s as ‘fate worse than death’

Government’s advisers warn DWP minister he may need to ‘shift entrenched concerns’ over work reforms

Readspeaker
Image of front cover of The Department, showing a crinkled memo with the words 'Restricted - Policy. The Department. How a Violent Government Bureaucracy Killed Hundreds and Hid the Evidence. John Pring.' Next to the image is a red box with the following words in white: 'A very interesting book... a very important contribution to this whole debate' - Sir Stephen Timms, minister for social security and disability. plutobooks.com and the Pluto Press logo.

Footer

The International Standard Serial Number for Disability News Service is: ISSN 2398-8924

  • Accessibility Statement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site map
  • Bluesky
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Threads
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2026 Disability News Service

Site development by A Bright Clear Web