Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress has been made towards introducing personalised and tailored employment support for disabled people who are looking for work.

From April 2017, as announced in the Green Paper, Improving Lives, we rolled out the new Personal Support Package (PSP) for people with health conditions. So far we have recruited 300 new Disability Employment Advisers, allocated £15 million to the Flexible Support Fund, made changes to the permitted work rules, and almost completed the roll out of the Health and Work Conversation. This is in line with our ambition to provide a support system which can be tailored to individuals’ needs.

As part of the PSP, we have been rolling out a £330m package from April 2017, delivering a broad range of employment and health support for new ESA Work Related Activity Group and UC Limited Capability for Work claimants. For those claimants, the national employment support provision has been expanded and extended so that there are spaces available on Work Choice and Specialist Employability Support. This will also apply to the Work and Health Programme when it is rolled out from November 2017. We have introduced Community Partners to Jobcentres across Great Britain, peer support Journey to Employment job clubs and deployed trained Small Employer Advisors to deliver the Small Employer Offer.