Motability Foundation is a registered charity to help disabled people with their mobility and transport needs. Motability’s main focus is its ownership and oversight of the Motability Scheme. The Foundation also oversees delivery of grant programmes (including to other organisations) targeting areas outside the Motability scheme where solutions are required to meet the evolving transportation needs of disabled people.

The Foundation Community Transport Grant which was created to develop, improve and expand community transport provision awarded 11 grants at a cost of £4.2m in the financial year 2024/25 including to rural areas.

Additionally, the Scheme recognises that living in the most rural areas often means having to travel further to access everyday services so will provide 3,000 additional miles per year on to leases for certain customers. Motability Operations has used data from national Governments to identify the areas with limited access to essential services. The data looks at the typical travel time to services that people regularly rely on, including grocery shopping, healthcare and education.

The Motability Scheme is operated independently of Government. Decisions about grants, eligibility, lease terms, mileage allowances and support arrangements are matters for Motability.

The Motability Scheme is designed to address the transport requirements of individuals with disabilities in the UK and is a lifeline in enabling disabled people to remain mobile, live independently and access employment.

For customers who cannot afford essential costs or who require more complex adaptations, the Motability Foundation continues to provide means-tested grants to those most in need of financial assistance.

The Motability Foundation works towards its vision that “no disabled person should be disadvantaged by poor access to transport”. To achieve this, it delivers grant programmes and supports innovative initiatives that address areas beyond the Motability Scheme, where new solutions are needed to meet the evolving transport needs of disabled people.

The targeting of aid workers in any circumstances is totally unacceptable. Gaza remains the deadliest place in the world for humanitarian operations, with over 500 aid workers killed since the start of the conflict. We have been clear that the Government of Israel must comply with its obligations to facilitate humanitarian assistance and ensure that aid workers are able to operate safely.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 15 July in response to Question 16811.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 15 July in response to Question 16811.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 15 July in response to Question 16811.

The Motability Scheme provides a vital lifeline to those who need it, however it historically benefitted from tax breaks which supported provision beyond the scheme’s core objectives, such as the lease of luxury cars. That is why at Budget 2025 the Government made tax changes to the scheme to ensure it delivers fairness for the taxpayer.

Prior to Budget 2025, the Government engaged closely with the Motability Foundation to ensure the Scheme would continue to provide access to transport for its customers, including the provision of a range of affordable vehicles which suit customers’ varying needs. This means customers are still able to access a range of vehicles using only their disability benefit, in line with pre-Budget provision. Additionally, vehicles designed or substantially and permanently adapted for wheelchair and stretcher users were not impacted by tax changes.

The Government consulted closely with the Motability Foundation charity to understand in depth how tax changes would impact the Motability Scheme and their customers. Our assessment of these impacts has been published on GOV.UK and can be found here: Motability Scheme: reforming tax reliefs - GOV.UK.

This week, I announced the national roll-out of the early victims’ right to review scheme. From Monday, if the Crown Prosecution Service is considering dropping a case, rape and serious sexual assault survivors across England and Wales will have the right for that view to be reviewed by a second independent prosecutor before a final decision is taken. I have sat with advocates and survivors who fight every day, and are determined for the system to change. This week, we have changed it.

We are committed to delivering our manifesto commitment to introduce mandatory disability pay gap reporting for large employers, and we will introduce legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows. Disability pay gap reporting, including workforce reporting and action plans, will improve transparency and provide vital data to help employers understand their workforces better, and identify and address disability pay gaps where they exist by adopting more inclusive practices, while avoiding unintended consequences.

On 25 March, we published the pay gap reporting consultation response, which shows how the new policy may work, alongside our green rated impact assessment. The proposed approach would require employers with 250 or more employees to report their disability pay gaps, report workforce composition by disability, and take actions to address pay gaps to make workplaces more inclusive for disabled people.

The disability employment gap remains too high. ​We are aiming for our range of policy initiatives to lead to its reduction.

Under the Equality Act 2010 (the 2010 Act) it is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against disabled employees and applicants. Specifically, employers are required to make reasonable adjustments in relation to the disabled employee’s job or during the recruitment process, which ensure that disabled employees are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to their non-disabled colleagues. Failure to make reasonable adjustments for a disabled employee or job seeker, or discounting a job application simply because the applicant is disabled, could amount to direct disability discrimination under the 2010 Act.

The EHRC has published guidance for employers on supporting employees with reasonable adjustments: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/guidance/supporting-disabled-workers-hybrid-working-guidance-employers and https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/guidance/business/employing-people-workplace-adjustments.

The Government also supports a range of initiatives to improve disability inclusion at work.

This includes the Access to Work Scheme (AtW), a demand-led, personalised discretionary grant which supports the recruitment and retention of disabled people in employment. AtW provides grant funding to disabled people, as well as those with a health condition and supports workplace adjustments that go beyond what would normally be expected from an employer through their duty to provide reasonable adjustments as outlined in the 2010 Act.

In addition, to retain disabled employees, the Disability Confident scheme encourages employers to create disability inclusive workplaces and to support disabled people to get work and get on in work.

The June 2026 update to the Keep Britain Working review has reported that over 250 employers, providers and other organisations are working together, with better disability employment participation as one of the Review’s central objectives. Work is under way with Vanguard organisations and academic partners to improve measurement of disability participation, creating the outcome-focused foundations for more inclusive practices across UK employers.

We are also changing legislation through the Employment Rights Act 2025 to make it more likely that flexible working requests are accepted by introducing a reasonableness test. These changes will take effect in 2027.

We continue to monitor and support legislation to help ensure that people with disabilities are treated fairly in employment application processes and in the workplace.

Defence continually assesses threats and risks in all areas, including aerial drones. The defence investment plan contains measures to accelerate transformation and equip forces for modern warfare, including £790 million for integrated air and missile defence. Defence has taken extensive steps to strengthen homeland counter-drone capability, including vulnerability assessments of defence sites, restricted flying areas over numerous bases, and enhanced counter-uncrewed aircraft systems capabilities delivered by the Ministry of Defence police.

The Government is committed to reducing the disability employment gap to ensure disabled people are supported to get into, stay in and get on in work. Official statistics, published quarterly by the independent Office for National Statistics (ONS) and annually by DWP, allow the Government to monitor progress in narrowing the gap.

The Department has a range of specialist initiatives to support disabled people to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, Connect to Work and WorkWell.

It was a pleasure to hear the hon. Member’s contribution in the recent Westminster Hall debate on seasonal hospitality businesses, including those in his constituency. We are delivering permanently lower business rate multipliers for more than 750,000 retail, hospitality and leisure properties. That is backed by a £4.3 billion support package over three years, which includes transitional relief to protect businesses from large bill increases following the re-evaluation. We have increased the hospitality support fund to £10 million over three years, building on the previous scheme, to support larger, longer-term projects. I am committed to working in partnership with industry and across Government to support growth and resilience, including through targeted support measures and engagement, such as with the Hospitality Sector Council.

We will bring ethnicity and disability pay gap legislation forward as soon as parliamentary time allows. In March 2026 we published the government response to the mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting consultation, which included indicative clauses to show how the new legislation may look.

We are also working at pace to deliver the manifesto and Make Work Pay commitments to equal pay reform. It is important that the law works for everyone and so we plan to conduct further engagement on these proposals to ensure we get them right.

We will bring ethnicity and disability pay gap legislation forward as soon as parliamentary time allows. In March 2026 we published the government response to the mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting consultation, which included indicative clauses to show how the new legislation may look.

We are also working at pace to deliver the manifesto and Make Work Pay commitments to equal pay reform. It is important that the law works for everyone and so we plan to conduct further engagement on these proposals to ensure we get them right.

We will bring ethnicity and disability pay gap legislation forward as soon as parliamentary time allows. In March 2026 we published the government response to the mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting consultation, which included indicative clauses to show how the new legislation may look.

We are also working at pace to deliver the manifesto and Make Work Pay commitments to equal pay reform. It is important that the law works for everyone and so we plan to conduct further engagement on these proposals to ensure we get them right.

Based on the information held, since December 2024, the recorded legal costs on litigation brought by WASPI including disbursements and VAT and costs paid to WASPI are £348,566.14.