Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the employment opportunities available to disabled school leavers.

There is a range of government initiatives supporting disabled people and people with health conditions to live independent lives and start, stay and succeed in work. Over the next three years we will invest £1.3bn in employment support for disabled people and people with health conditions. The latest data shows that the number of disabled people in employment increased by 1.3m between 2017 and Q1 2022 – the goal to see a million more disabled people in employment has been met after only five years.

To support the transition of disabled individuals from education into employment, Access to Work is delivering a series of Adjustment Passport pilots in a variety of settings. The pilots will enable us to understand if a passport can support a more coherent journey of receiving support, reduce the need for additional assessments and empower the passport holder to have a more confident conversation with potential employers enabling smoother transitions into employment.

The government runs multiple initiatives to help young disabled people whilst they are still in education. The National Careers Service enables individuals to make informed choices about the best route to take for different careers. This includes exploring whether an apprenticeship is right for them. The service helps young people apply for apprenticeships, improving the quality of applications received by employers and advising those not ready for an apprenticeship of alternative routes e.g. traineeships.

The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) works with special schools across England, as well as with Careers Leaders, who design and deliver careers education programmes tailored to the needs of young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) regardless of their educational setting (i.e., mainstream schools and colleges, special schools or alternative provision). All local authorities must set out the support available to help children and young people with SEND move into adulthood as part of their local offer. This should be co-produced with children, young people, and their families to ensure it meets local needs.

In February 2022, Department for Education (DfE) announced it would invest up to £18million over the next three years to build capacity in the Supported Internships programme, aiming to double the number of Supported Internships to give more young people with an Education Health and Care Plan the skills to secure and sustain paid employment. We have also worked with stakeholders across the sector to update our Supported Internship guidance to support education providers and employers to deliver quality internship placements for young people across the country.