Disabled People: Employment

Lord Davies of Coity Excerpts

Monday 21st March 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hollis of Heigham]

My Lords—

[Lord Davies of Coity]

My Lords—

[Noble Lords]

Hollis!

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Freud]

My Lords, my last answer made clear the extraordinary success of Remploy in getting people with disabilities into jobs. That does not seem to have been affected by a very difficult employment market. I remind the House of the relative costs: the factory business of Remploy takes between 20 per cent and 25 per cent of the total that we as a country spend on disability employment programmes to support some 3,000 people.

[Lord Davies of Coity]

My Lords, while recognising that the policy of the coalition Government is to have voluntary separation and voluntary redundancy, does the Minister agree with me that even on a voluntary basis the number of job opportunities will be reduced for disabled people in the future?

[Lord Freud]

My Lords, I hope that I have made absolutely clear the exact opposite. The employment services strategy is working. Numbers are going up. It is looking to help 30,000 people per year by 2012-13 into mainstream jobs. A company such as ASDA has already taken on 1,000 disabled people. With this strategy we are delivering something that disabled lobbies and people want—to be in full, mainstream employment.