Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Improving lives: the future of work, health and disability white paper, published on 30 November 2017, Cm. 9526, what progress has been made on researching and identifying means of providing employers with information and support on disability employment.

We announced in Improving Lives that we would "improve advice and support both at a national and local level, making sure it works for employers of all sizes, in particular for SMEs, and for their employees". An important part of this is our Disability Confident scheme which offers information and advice about employing disabled people and encourages employers to take leading roles in driving change. Over 9,500 employers are currently signed up to Disability Confident and that number grows weekly.

We’re committed to continuously improving the support provided through Disability Confident. DWP commissioned Ipsos MORI to conduct research with Disability Confident employers to understand the effect that signing up to the Disability Confident scheme has had on their recruitment and retention attitudes and practices with regards to disabled people. In addition, the research study aimed to understand what motivates employers to sign up to the scheme and what support those employers need to promote the scheme both within and outside of their organisation.

We published the results of this research on 13 November 2018. The majority of employers surveyed were satisfied with the Disability Confident scheme, and as a positive expression of this satisfaction, nine in ten said they would recommend the scheme. However, the survey revealed some areas which could help improve the experience of employers who have already signed up

We have action in place to meet these requests including:

• working with JCP to develop products that they can use and share with employers to help them on their Disability Confident journeys.
• providing Specialist Themed Events to provide in-depth learning on specific issues. Themes covered so far include mental health, workplace adjustments, recruitment processes, and supporting staff with terminal illnesses.
• working more closely with the third sector to ensure they understand how Disability Confident works and can promote it amongst the disabled people they work with.
• Providing a new “Find a job service” which provides a free facility for employers to post jobs and jobseekers to apply for those jobs. Jobseekers are now able to search for jobs displaying the Disability Confident badge, with over 8,000 Disability Confident vacancies currently listed on the site.
• providing new communications channels to ensure we can easily reach all Disability Confident employers with information, advice and case studies.

The Disability Confident scheme has always been intended to be only part of the process of getting more disabled people into work. The Access to Work scheme can also provide support towards the costs of workplace adjustments and we have also conducted research into how that scheme operates and can be improved. We are integrating Access to Work communications into Disability Confident promotions so employers can easily understand how they can receive support with the costs of making workplace adjustments.