To ask the Minister for Communities to outline the work completed to date to update the Disability Strategy.

My officials have been working to prepare for the development of a new Disability Strategy in line with the commitments made in New Decade, New Approach and the Executive’s Programme for Government.

The Strategy will target key areas of need identified by our stakeholders and will seek to address the barriers and inequalities faced by disabled people. To date, work has focused on research, exploring the existing evidence base; gathering information on strategic interventions in relation to disability and consultative groups involving disabled stakeholders across all departments; developing stakeholder relationships; fulfilling our international obligations in respect of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;

The significant and unprecedented pressures placed on everyone by COVID-19. In the initial phase of the pandemic, the primary focus of the Executive was to put in place measures to resolve the most pressing issues affecting the vulnerable in our society. As we move into the recovery phase, our focus will shift towards mitigating the medium to long term effects of COVID-19, and the lasting impact will be considered in the production of the new Disability Strategy. Working with key stakeholders, we will use all available evidence on the impact of the pandemic to inform the Strategy’s development.

Work on the Strategy will commence imminently using a co-design approach.