§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what percentage of the work force were registered as disabled in(a) the UK and (b) each of the standard regions and nations of the UK at the latest date for which figures are available. [139776]
§ Ms HodgeThe introduction of the employment provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 coincided with the abolition of the option to register as disabled under the provisions of the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act, 1944. The data now collected by the Government include the number of disabled people as defined by the 1995 Act. The Labour Force Survey is used to provide a quarterly update of the number of people with a current disability as defined by the Act and their 311W employment status. The 1995 Act has a more inclusive definition of disability than the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act 1944.
According to the Labour Force Survey, (Summer 2000, UK), there are 5,506,000 people of working age with a current disability as defined by the DDA. They account for 15 per cent. of the total working age population and 43 per cent. of them are in employment.