Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support disabled employees during the covid-19 outbreak.

A range of DWP initiatives are supporting disabled people to stay in work. These include Access to Work, Disability Confident and support in partnership with the health system, including Employment Advice in NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapy services. We have made it easier to access programmes which help disabled people to enter work, such as the Work and Health Programme and the Intensive Personalised Employment Support programme.

DWP has also put in place measures to ensure that its own staff, including those who require reasonable adjustments, have been able to safely work from home during the Covid-19 outbreak, or from COVID-safe departmental locations where necessary or if that is their preference. These measures include arranging for specialist furniture and equipment to be delivered to individuals’ homes; allowing individuals to purchase such items and then reimbursing them; and ensuring that DWP workplaces are COVID safe for those who use them.