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 increase the number of disabled people in work.

The Government is committed to improving employment outcomes for disabled people. Improving Lives: The Future of Work, Health and Disability is our strategy for helping people with disabilities or health conditions enter and remain in employment. It includes details of a wide range of programmes and initiatives that will help support disabled people, in making a successful transition to employment. For example:

• The Work and Health Programme will provide innovative support for around 275,000 people over five years. The majority of people of starting on the programme (around 220,000) will be disabled people, who can volunteer for the programme at any time.

• The Personal Support Package for people with health conditions and disabilities, with a range of new interventions and initiatives designed to provide support that is tailored to the individual needs of claimants.

• Access to Work is a demand-led, discretionary grant scheme which offers advice and in-work support to disabled people, above the level of statutory reasonable adjustments. An Access to Work customer may receive an award of up to £59,200 p.a. to pay for support to help them to enter or retain employment. This can include help with getting to work.

• Through the Disability Confident scheme, DWP is engaging with employers, offering online guidance and helping to promote the skills, talents and abilities of disabled people.

• The new Intensive Personalised Employment Support Programme, which will roll out by the end of 2019, will provide highly personalised packages of employment support for disabled people, who are at least a year away from moving into work.

Over the last 5 years the number of disabled people in employment has increased by around 1.06 million since Q2 2013, and currently stands at 7.7 million.