Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of job opportunities for people with disabilities.

The Government is committed to reducing the disability employment gap, which currently stands at 28 percentage points, as part of a clear ambition to raise the overall employment rate to 80%.

We announced in the recent Pathways to Work Green Paper that we would establish a new guarantee of support for all disabled people and people with health conditions claiming out of work benefits who want help to get into or return to work, backed up by £1.9billion of new funding by the end of the decade.

We also recognise that employers play an important role in addressing health and disability which is why the Government has asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead “Keep Britain Working”, an independent review of the role of UK employers in reducing health-related economic inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces.