Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to reduce the disability employment gap.

Justin Tomlinson

We are committed to halving the disability employment gap. In the last year, the number of disabled people in work has increased by 152,000. At the Spending Review, we announced a real terms increase in funding to help disabled people and people with health conditions to get into work and remain in work. This includes:

• Increasing the reach of Access to Work, providing support to an additional 25,000 people by 2020/21
• The Work and Health Unit which has secured £115million of funding, including at least £40million for a work and health innovation fund. The Work and Health Innovation Fund will pilot new ways to help working age disabled people and people with health conditions get in, stay in, and return to work as well as benefit from improved health outcomes.
• A new Work and Health Programme, restructuring our current provision to focus on providing the best possible support for claimants with health conditions or disabilities, as well as those who are long-term unemployed.
• Engaging employers through our Disability Confident programme to see the business opportunities for employing disabled people.
• Making the best use of the new funding of up to £100million per year that we announced in the Budget 2015 for additional practical support to provide the right incentives and support to enable those who have limited capability, but who have some potential to prepare, for work to move closer to the labour market, and when they are ready, back into work.