Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what increase there has been to the overall Access to Work budget as a result of Remploy factory closures since 2012.
In response to the Sayce review recommendations, the Government committed to spending an extra £15m on Access to Work by the end of this Spending Review period and this commitment has already been delivered. In 2011/12 the Department spent £93m on Access to Work, in 2012/13 £95m and by 2013/14 this had increased to £108m.
Separately, the Government agreed an £8 million guaranteed People Help and Support Package to provide a maximum of 18 months specialist support to help disabled people made redundant as a result of Remploy factory closures.