Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of the number of people with Multiple Sclerosis who are economically inactive.

The specific information requested is not available.

The Prime Minister has tasked the DWP’s Secretary of State to look in detail at the issue of workforce participation. This involves working with other Government departments, including the Department of Health and Social Care, to identify and understand the barriers preventing people from joining the workforce and/or resulting in people leaving the workforce early.

Disabled people and people with health conditions are a key focus of this work, which will build on the Government’s existing package of support to help disabled people and people with health conditions to start, stay and succeed in work.

Background

Headline estimates on employment, unemployment and economic inactivity are produced using the Labour Force Survey (LFS), which provides internationally recognised information on the UK labour market. The LFS also asks respondents about any long-term (lasting or expected to last 12 months or more) physical or mental health condition they may have with 18 different conditions, or groups of conditions, to select from. Multiple Sclerosis would normally be recorded under the category Progressive Illnesses (not included elsewhere), which also includes conditions such as Cancer, symptomatic HIV, Parkinson’s Disease and Muscular Dystrophy. A breakdown for the individual conditions within this category is not available from the LFS.

In 2021/2022, the number of economically inactive people who reported having a Progressive Illness was 410,000 (or 5% of the total number of people who were economically inactive).

Source: The employment of disabled people 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)