Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his Department has made since May 2015 in reducing the disability employment gap.

This Government is committed to its ambition to halve the disability employment gap and enable disabled people and people with long-term health conditions to access all the benefits that work can bring.

The latest data shows that since 2015, almost 300,000 more working age disabled people are in employment and the disability employment rate has increased by almost 3 percentage points, now standing at 50 per cent. Over the same time we have seen improvements in the disability employment gap which now stands at around 31 percentage points, down from just below 34 percentage points in the same period in 2015. 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.

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.