Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to assist people with restricted visibility pursuing careers and training opportunities.

Justin Tomlinson

The government has a wide variety of measures to help visually impaired and other disabled people prepare for, enter and remain in employment. These include:

• Work Choice and Specialist Employability Support (SES), which help to prepare participants for work and move them into employment;

• New Enterprise Allowance (NEA), which offers support to unemployed people who wish to start their own businesses. Disabled jobseekers who are accepted onto the NEA scheme may also be entitled to receive an Access to Work grant; and,

• Access to Work, which provides practical and financial support with the additional costs faced by individuals whose health or disability affects the way they do their job, including some costs associated with new employment opportunities and supported internships. Access to Work has recently set up a specialist team visual impairment to further improve the service offered to the visually impaired people, who comprise the second largest group of Access to Work users.