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 effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the disability employment gap.

The latest data show that by Q1 2020, which covers the period up to the end of March 2020, there were 1.4 million more disabled people in work compared to Q1 2014, and the employment rate gap had closed from 33.8 percentage points to 28.6 percentage points in just six years. These data may be viewed here:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/labourmarketstatusofdisabledpeoplea08

There will be a period until we have the robust data needed to fully assess any effects of the economic downturn on disabled people’s employment. We will continue to monitor employment of disabled people using the quarterly Labour Force Survey and other relevant sources.