Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many meetings (a) she and (b) her predecessor held with her Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser between October 2017 and December 2017.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
There have been no meetings with the Chief Scientific Adviser and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions between October 2017 and December 2017.
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many meetings (a) he and (b) Ministers of his Department have had with the Chief Scientific Adviser in his Department in the last three months.
Answered by Damian Hinds
There have been no meetings with the Chief Scientific Adviser and Ministers of his Department in the last three months.
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the proportion of people who are self-employed who have a disability.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
Employment status
Data on the proportion of working age disabled people who were employed, inactive and unemployed is published by the Office for National Statistics using the Labour Force Survey. The latest data for Q2 2017 can be found using the following link: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/labourmarketstatusofdisabledpeoplea08
In the United Kingdom, over the last four years the employment rate of disabled people has increased by nearly 6 percentage points from 43.6% in Q2 2013 to 49.2% in Q2 2017. There are now almost 600,000 more disabled people in work than four years ago, with almost 3.5 million disabled people in employment.
Business Size
As part of the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper we have published information based on the size of people’s workplaces for Q2 2016 using the Labour Force Survey. This data can be found in Table 1h using the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/641240/work-health-and-disability-green-paper-data-pack-supporting-tables.xlsx
Self-employment
The latest published figures from the Labour Force Survey, covering Q4 2016, show that the proportion of people in Great Britain who are self-employed who have a disability is 13%.
Source: Labour Force Survey, available at:
Note
Please note that the latest data from the Labour Force Survey covers Q2 (April to June) 2017. However, we have used the latest publicly available data for each request which is why different time periods are used.
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the proportion of people with a disability who are (a) employed, (b) inactive in the labour market and (c) unemployed; and what proportion of those people employed in (i) large businesses, (ii) medium-sized businesses and (iii) small businesses have a disability.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
Employment status
Data on the proportion of working age disabled people who were employed, inactive and unemployed is published by the Office for National Statistics using the Labour Force Survey. The latest data for Q2 2017 can be found using the following link: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/labourmarketstatusofdisabledpeoplea08
In the United Kingdom, over the last four years the employment rate of disabled people has increased by nearly 6 percentage points from 43.6% in Q2 2013 to 49.2% in Q2 2017. There are now almost 600,000 more disabled people in work than four years ago, with almost 3.5 million disabled people in employment.
Business Size
As part of the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper we have published information based on the size of people’s workplaces for Q2 2016 using the Labour Force Survey. This data can be found in Table 1h using the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/641240/work-health-and-disability-green-paper-data-pack-supporting-tables.xlsx
Self-employment
The latest published figures from the Labour Force Survey, covering Q4 2016, show that the proportion of people in Great Britain who are self-employed who have a disability is 13%.
Source: Labour Force Survey, available at:
Note
Please note that the latest data from the Labour Force Survey covers Q2 (April to June) 2017. However, we have used the latest publicly available data for each request which is why different time periods are used.
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on businesses of inactivity in the labour market among people who have a (a) disability and (b) chronic mental health condition.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
In October 2016, my department in conjunction with the Department of Health, published, Improving Lives: the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper which included a range of data of the impact of inactivity on the labour market, including our estimate that ill health among working age people which prevents them from working, costs the economy around £100 billion a year and related sickness absence costs employers £9 billion a year.
This Government is committed to building a country that works for everyone. The package of initiatives announced in Improving Lives aims to improve the employment prospects of those with disabilities and health conditions; helping them to realise their potential and enabling employers’ to benefit from a large, valuable and under-used section of the labour market.
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department plans to respond to its consultation on the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
Improving Lives; the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper was published on 31 October 2016 and the consultation closed on 17 February 2017. The Green Paper explored a range of ways to improve the prospects and transform the lives of disabled people by removing barriers that prevent them from working, and helping ensure that they are able to remain in employment. We received over 6000 of responses and engaged in a wide range of conversations with stakeholders during the consultation period, supported by over 166 accessible events held across England, Scotland, and Wales. We are now carefully considering the consultation responses and next steps for longer-term reform and will set these out in due course
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to provide incentives for employers to employ people from hard-to-reach groups.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The Department already encourages employers to support hard-to-reach groups through communications campaigns such as See Potential. This campaign was launched in September 2015 with the aim of inspiring employers to change their recruitment practices and be more open to hiring people from the most disadvantaged groups in our society.
Similarly, Disability Confident is about creating a movement for change – getting employers to think differently about disability and to take action to improve how they attract, recruit and retain disabled workers.