§ Miss Lestorasked the Secretary of State for Employment what percentage of employers currently fulfils the 3 per cent. quota of disabled people; and what steps he is taking to raise this proportion.
§ Mr. Dudley Smith41.8 per cent. of employers within scope of the quota provisions of the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act, 1944, fulfilled their obligation on 31st May, 1971, the date of the latest count.
We have recently extended the inspection of records which the Act requires employers with a quota obligation to keep. Our disablement resettlement officers try to help those employers who are below quota by introducing suitable registered disabled persons to them, but one of the difficulties is that the registered disabled persons available when vacancies occur are sometimes unsuitable for the particular jobs.
§ Miss Lestorasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the percentage unemployment rate for disabled workers for each year since 1945.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithThe percentage rate of unemployment among registered dis-184W abled workers in Great Britain in October each year was as follows:—
Year Percentage of registered disabled persons unemployed 1945 31.5 1946 10.2 1947 8.7 1948 8.1 1949 7.0 1950 6.6 1951 5.1 1952 6.7 1953 6.2 1954 5.2 1955 4.7 1956 5.3 1957 5.8 1958 7.8 1959 8.2 1960 7.1 1961 7.2 1962 8.6 1963 9.0 1964 7.6 1965 7.0 1966 7.4 1967 9.3 1968 10.1 1969 10.8 1970 11.6 1971 14.0