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 tackle the disability pay gap for people with epilepsy.

The Government is committed to reducing the disability employment gap and seeing a million more disabled people in work between 2017 and 2027. We support disabled people, including people with epilepsy, to enter employment and stay in work through a range of programmes such as the Work and Health Programme, Access to Work and the Intensive Personalised Employment Support Programme.

To support disabled people to stay in work and progress, we published a voluntary reporting framework on disability, mental ill health and wellbeing in November 2018. This is aimed at large employers (with over 250 employees) and it is recommended that they publically report on the pay and progression of disabled people at regular intervals. The framework can also be used to support smaller employers who are keen to drive greater transparency in their organisation or industry.

From April 2019, Jobcentre Plus introduced an enhanced Disability Employment Adviser and a new Disability Employment Adviser Leader role, putting in place more than 800 staff who support their colleagues to provide high quality services to disabled people and those with health conditions. Universal Credit provides us with the opportunity to support people who are in work to progress and increase their earnings.

We will publish a National Strategy for Disabled People before the end of 2020. This will look at ways to improve opportunities and access for disabled people in terms of housing, education, transport and jobs. The health and disability benefit system aspects of the strategy will be considered in a separate Green Paper. This will look at how we can further improve our support for people with disabilities and health conditions, supporting people into work where possible and enabling people to live independent lives.