Employment: Disability

(asked on 3rd November 2016) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the Green Paper Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability, published on 31 October 2016, does not contain a commitment to aim to halve the disability employment gap by 2020.


Answered by
Penny Mordaunt Portrait
Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
This question was answered on 8th November 2016

This Government’s commitment to halving the disability employment gap was set out in our Manifesto. We have seen almost 500,000 more disabled people in employment over the past three years. Over the same time we’ve seen the employment rate for disabled people increase by over 4 percentage points, where it now stands at 48 per cent.

We want to build on this. We are clear that sustained progress calls for action across the areas of welfare, employment and health. Although the Government has an important role to play in leading the way and facilitating change, everyone needs to play their part. That is why we have just published “Improving Lives: The Work, Health and Disability Green Paper”. It sets out the short-term action we intend to take to bring about change, alongside our intention to work with others to change perceptions and transform the culture around disability, health and work. The aim of the public consultation is to spark a proactive, wide-ranging and challenging conversation and build a consensus for change. It includes questions on proposals for longer-term reform over this Parliament and beyond, so that our systems, sectors and social attitudes all work together to help achieve the ambition of halving the disability employment gap.

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