Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help enable disabled people with fluctuating medical conditions to find suitable work which matches their skills and offers flexible work arrangements in line with their personal circumstances.

A range of Government initiatives are supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, including fluctuating medical conditions, to start, stay and succeed in work.

These include: increasing Work Coach support nationally for people with health conditions receiving Universal Credit or Employment Support Allowance; Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres offering advice and expertise on how to help disabled people into work; the Work and Health Programme and Intensive Personalised Employment Support, providing tailored and personalised support for participants; 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 are spending £1.3bn in employment support for disabled people and people with health conditions over the next three years.

The Government recognises the benefits of flexible working arrangements and is committed to supporting all individuals and businesses to work flexibly.

Since 2014, all employees with 26 weeks’ continuous service have the statutory right to request a change to the hours, timing, or location of their work. The framework is clear that a request to work flexibly can only be rejected where there are sound business reasons for doing so – and those business reasons are set out in law.

Last year, the Government took forward a manifesto commitment to consult on making changes to the right to request flexible working a ‘day one’ right and whether the business reasons for refusing requests remain valid. The Government response will be published in due course.