Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the implications for her policies of the most recent data from the ONS on the number of disabled people in work; and what steps she is taking to increase the number of such people in work in Coventry.

The most recent data from ONS for which comparisons can be made shows that the number of disabled people in work reached 3.5 million in 2017, an increase of 600,000 since 2013.

The Government is committed to building a society in which disabled people and those with health conditions are able to, wherever possible, fulfil their potential and work. That is why we have made the ambitious commitment to see one million more disabled people in work by 2027 and are taking decisive action across the welfare system, workplace and health sector.

For example we have recently launched the Health-Led employment trials in the Sheffield City Region and the West midlands Combined Authority. These trials will help us find out whether a modified ‘Individual Placement and Support’ (IPS) model can help people with physical and/or mental health conditions get into, and stay in, sustainable paid employment. They will also allow us to gather the evidence needed to help develop more effective employment support services and make sure they are accessible and inclusive to anyone who wants to benefit from them.

We are also investing over £1.1million across Coventry and Warwickshire until March 2020 to provide Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services with employment advisers (EAs) as part of a £39 million initiative to provide EAs in IAPT services in 40% of Clinical Commissioning Groups across England. IAPT services provide psychological therapies to people with common mental health problems.