Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his Department has made in fulfilling the recommendation of the Sayce report, published in June 2011, on disability employment support to transform the Access to Work scheme from the Government's best kept secret to a recognised passport to successful employment for disabled people.

We have promoted Access to Work via the Disability Confident scheme, and will continue to do so. Disability Confident gives employers the tools and information they need to think differently about disability and to take action to recruit, retain and develop disabled workers.

After the election period we intend to undertake further marketing and promotion of the Access to Work programme. This includes working with stakeholders and partners and employer associations to raise awareness through communications to their customers and ensuring advisers who work with potential customers, including Jobcentre Plus, health professionals and advisory groups, have the information and tools to act as advocates.

This includes work with organisations which support or have an interest in people with musculoskeletal conditions, such as the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists, the British Association of Occupational Therapists, a number of Arthritis support organisations, health professionals, advisory groups and various employer associations.

The standards set in the national Workplace Wellbeing Charter include many elements which support the reduction of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), such as increasing physical activity and weight reduction. However, there is no MSD specific standard.

Local accreditation schemes, such as the Better Work Award, can enhance the national standards by adding a local MSD component if appropriate, based on local population needs.

In March 2017, Public Health England, Business in the Community and The Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance published a musculoskeletal toolkit for employers to address MSD issues at work. The toolkit builds on the existing best practice and considers the transferable learning between business sectors and businesses of different sizes. The toolkit has been downloaded over 1000 times since publication.

In our November 2016 Green Paper, the Government set out further proposals to support individuals with musculoskeletal conditions to find or to stay in work. The subsequent consultation drew considerable input from sufferers of musculoskeletal conditions (including arthritic conditions) and their representative groups. The consultation closed on 17^th February 2017 and we are now carefully considering the submissions we received as we develop our policy options.