Rupa Huq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rupa Huq on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what financial and advisory assistance his Department offers to businesses to encourage them to employ, train and support people with physical and learning disabilities.

Justin Tomlinson

The Government’s award-winning Disability Confident campaign continues to work with employers to raise awareness of the business benefits of employing disabled people. It offers information and guidance to support employers in becoming more confident when attracting, recruiting and retaining disabled people and signposts further resources.

We also deliver a number of programmes and initiatives that have successfully supported disabled people to find employment and which can also engage with and encourage employers, such as Access to Work (ATW), which provides a grant for support that is over and above the kinds of reasonable adjustment that employers have a duty to provide and Specialist Employability Support (SES).

The Hidden Impairment National Group (HING) has made its Hidden Impairment Toolkit publically available to employers, providers, support organisations and other government departments. This Toolkit helps employers to support and employ individuals with Hidden Impairments such as learning disabilities, autism, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).