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 employers in creating equal opportunities for people with learning disabilities in the workplace.

Improving employment opportunities for people with a learning disability is a Government priority. We take a life course approach and are working with other Departments to tackle barriers to employment that start early in life. For example, we work with Department for Education on implementing the Maynard Task Force recommendations which help people with learning disabilities to access Apprenticeships. DWP is also testing ways to improve our support to this group, through initiatives like the Local Supported Employment proof of concept, which seeks to build our evidence base on how we can best help users of adult social care (many of whom have learning disabilities) to be able to work.

Through Disability Confident, we are encouraging employers to offer more opportunities to disabled people, including people with a learning disability. Nearly 12,000 employers are signed up to the scheme and we recently announced our commitment to increase this number to 20,000 over the year.

Access to Work supports disabled people, including those with learning disabilities, who are in work or participating on Traineeships, apprenticeships or supported internships. Last year, record numbers of people with learning disabilities received support from Access to Work, with figures up 22% on 16/17.

The Government is working with the Supported Business Alliance (SBA) and The British Association for Supported Employment (BASE) to:

• help them develop a new quality mark for supported businesses and
• to develop a new long term element of Access to Work to continue support for those already working for a supported business, and help more disabled people to join them.

This will help those with the most severe barriers to work, including people with learning disabilities.

We are investing £40m in a new Intensive Personalised Employment Support programme, which rolls out in late 2019 and is expected to benefit 10,000 people. It will provide highly personalised packages of employment support for disabled people, including those with a learning disability, who are at least a year away from moving into work.