Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many disabled people have undertaken work placements under the Kickstart scheme or other similar programmes as part of the Plan for Jobs.

The Kickstart Scheme supports eligible young people at risk of long term unemployment, regardless of disadvantage or disability. Mechanisms that record the number of disabled young people participating were not included within the initial design of Kickstart, however disability status is recorded on the wider Universal Credit systems.

We are unable to provide information on the number of jobseekers with disabilities who are participating on the Kickstart Scheme or similar programmes as a part of the plan for jobs. This is because the information is not currently collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. This is due to data being contained across multiple systems and in some cases being provided voluntarily, meaning it would require a significant level of gathering and quality assurance.

The Department of Work and Pensions plans to track the success of Kickstart amongst young people on the scheme including those who have a disability or health condition as part of the evaluation. We will publish the evaluation once it has been completed.