Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that providers of his Department's services (a) better understand the demands of the local labour market and (b) reach out to employers to encourage them to consider disabled applicants.

The Department has teams of performance managers who work with providers to ensure they keep to their contracted obligations, which include an understanding of the demands of their local labour market and consideration of disabled applicants.

There are specific programmes which support disabled people with entering or retaining work, and through which providers can work with local employers. These include Work Programme, Work Choice, and Specialist Employability Support.

Additionally, Disability Confident was launched in July 2013. Disability Confident supports this Government’s commitment to halve the employment gap between disabled and non-disabled people by focusing on the role of employers, who have a crucial role to play in ensuring disabled people are recruited, retained and developed in their careers. When employers sign up as Disability Confident, they are asked to make specific meaningful offers of opportunities for disabled people such as jobs, apprenticeships, internships, and work experience opportunities. So far, over 1900 businesses have signed up to the new Disability Confident scheme, with this number growing daily.