Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government which sectors they have identified as providing particular opportunities to employ disabled people.

Disabled people work across all industries and sectors but are relatively more likely (42.6%), compared to non-disabled (35.4%) people, to work in the health, retail and education sectors¹. Disabled workers are less likely to be working in the private sector than non-disabled workers and consequently more likely to be working in the public sector (26.5% of disabled workers in the public sector and 23.1% of non-disabled workers in the public sector).

Employers within the Disability Confident scheme provide employment opportunities, including for disabled people, across a wide range of industry sectors. When signing up to the scheme employers must commit to 5 actions and at least 1 activity that will make a positive difference to the employment of disabled people. The Disability Confident scheme supports employers to make the most of the talents disabled people can bring to the workplace. It provides employers with the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace. DWP also works with sector facing Departments across Government to identify the particular barriers faced by jobseekers, including those with a disability, and consider what Government and industry can do together to remove these barriers, in order to help people into work at a time of record vacancies.

¹ Source: Annual Population Survey 2020/21