4 October 2021

What: The new minister for disabled people says it is a “big priority” for her to address the legacy of distress and distrust created by a decade of deaths of benefit claimants that have been linked to the actions of her new department. Chloe Smith makes the comments about DWP after being asked by Disability News Service how comfortable she felt stepping into a department that has been closely connected – including through reports from coroners and DWP’s own secret internal reviews – with so many deaths.

Why significant: Although Smith was probably not prepared for the question and suggested afterwards that she may not have understood its significance, it was still the closest any DWP minister has come to an apology for the department’s widespread failings over the last decade.