Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 11 July 2023 to Question 192317 on Employment Schemes: Disability, if he will publish further details on the expected timeline for returning the number of Disability Employment Advisors to the Department's core demand level.

The department is actively planning to restore the number of “Disability Employment Advisors (DEA)” to our core demand level, through recruiting a significant number of people into EO graded roles; this recruitment exercise is progressing well with 1900 additional EOs expected to join by September 30th and a forecast of 1600 for the remainder of the calendar year. The increased level of recruitment will incrementally improve the EO shortfall in all areas, including “Disability Employment Advisors (DEA)”.