HC Deb 18 January 1995 vol 252 cc560-1W
Mr. Heppell

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how many organisations have applied to use the disability symbol and been refused;

(2) how many complaints have been received regarding employers using the disability symbol and not implementing the five commitments to action;

(3) how many organisations have used the disability symbol in the past but have had the facility removed for not carrying out the five commitments to action;

(4) how many organisations now use the disability symbol.

Miss Widdecombe

Responsibility for the subject of the questions has been delegated to the Employment Service under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Mr. John Heppell, dated 18 January 1995:

The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions about organisations who use, or have used, the disability symbol.

You asked how many organisations have applied to use the disability symbol and have been refused. While there are occasions when the Employment Service (ES) recommends that an organisation delay in adopting the symbol until they have taken some further action, we do not maintain records of such instances. I am aware of no circumstance where we have refused an employer authority to adopt the symbol.

You also asked how many complaints have been received about symbol users not implementing one of their commitments, and how many had been asked to withdraw from symbol use due to non-fulfilment of their commitments.

We do not keep a central record of complaints, although I am aware of two that have reached my head office direct. Any complaints of this nature are taken very seriously and investigated with the symbol user concerned by a representative from the Placing, Assessment and Counselling Team or the Major Organisations' Development Unit. In cases where the symbol was clearly being abused we would ask the organisation to stop using it, although I am not aware of any instance to date where this has happened.

The last published statistics in July 1994 record 940 employers using the symbol, including a number of organisations operating throughout the country.

I hope this is helpful.