Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January to Question 61042, what estimate his Department has made of how long it will take to halve the disability employment gap.

Making progress on the government’s manifesto commitment to halve the disability employment gap is central to our social reform agenda. We want to build a country and economy that works for everyone, whether or not they have a long-term health condition or disability.

We have seen nearly 600,000 more working age disabled people in employment over the past three years. Over the same time we have seen the employment rate for disabled people increase by over 5 percentage points, where it now stands at 50 per cent. But we know that there is much more that needs to be done, so that everyone who can work is given the right support and opportunities to do so. We know that halving the disability employment gap is ambitious, and will take time to achieve.

Improving Lives, the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper published on 31^st October 2016 sets out the short-term action we intend to take to bring about change. It also asked questions on ideas for longer-term reform over this Parliament and beyond through a formal national consultation, so that our systems, sectors and social attitudes all work together to help achieve the ambition of halving the disability employment gap. The consultation closed on 17^th February 2017. We are grateful to the many individuals and organizations who have submitted responses. We will now consider these carefully as we plan next steps on this important agenda.