Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) disability employment adviser leaders and (b) disability employment advisers are employed by her Department in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK.

From April 2019, Jobcentre Plus introduced an enhanced Disability Employment Adviser and a new Disability Employment Adviser Leader role supporting Jobcentre colleagues to provide high quality services to disabled people and those with health conditions. One of the key transformational elements of Universal Credit is that it provides us with the opportunity to support people who are in work to progress and increase their earnings.

As of December 2019, there are 10 full time equivalents Disability Employment Adviser Leader (DEALS) in place across the Jobcentre network in Scotland and 52 full time equivalents Disability Employment Advisers (DEAs). Nationally there are 98 full time equivalents DEALs and 501 full time equivalents DEAs.

The actual headcount will be higher when taking account of part time and dual role workers.

The figures provided are taken from the Departments ‘Activity Based Management’ (ABM) system. The data is derived from unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard.