Baroness Thomas of Winchester – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Thomas of Winchester on 2014-05-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to close the employment gap for disabled people since the ending of the quota system in 1995; and how progress is being monitored.

Lord Freud

The disability employment gap has reduced. The Quarterly Labour Force Survey data is used to measure the employment rate gap between working age disabled people and the total working age population.

The Government is committed to ensuring that all disabled people have the opportunities and support that they need to get a job and to remain in work. There is a range of provision to provide this support including the Work Programme, Access to Work and Work Choice programmes. Further, in December 2013, the Government published ‘the disability and health employment strategy: the discussion so far’.

A new Health and Work Service (HWS) is being developed to provide occupational health advice and support for employees, employers and GP’s to help individuals with a health condition to stay in or return to work.The intention is to introduce the service by the end of 2014.

In July 2013, The Prime Minister launched the Disability Confident Campaign to help increase employer confidence in recruiting and retaining disabled people as part of a diverse workforce, and to provide opportunities for employers and organisations to share learning and good practice.