Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of rolling out sheltered employment work schemes for adults with learning disabilities.

There is an international and domestic evidence-base demonstrating that sheltered employment, when delivered in line with one of the recognised Supported Employment models, is effective in supporting disabled people, people with health conditions and complex barriers to employment to find sustained work.

That is why we have announced, as part of the Get Britain Working Strategy, the locally led, voluntary, Supported Employment programme, Connect to Work, that will help disabled people, people with health conditions and those with complex barriers to employment to get into and retain work. Connect to Work funding will provide Supported Employment programmes throughout all of England and Wales.

Local Authorities are required to deliver Connect to Work through two models of Supported Employment, Individual Placement and Support and Supported Employment Quality Framework. The latter model, in particular, has been shown to benefit individuals with learning disabilities who are seeking sustained employment.

Connect to Work is rolling out on a phased basis, shaped by local authorities’ own timetables. Local areas are opening their Connect to Work programmes through 2025, with the first areas – covering the West London Alliance partnership of London Boroughs and East Sussex now open for participants. We expect more areas to go live this summer, with progressively more each month through 2025.