§ Dame Patricia Hornsby-Smithasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will review the working of the Disabled Persons Register with a view to ensuring that firms employing 20 persons or more offer employment to the required percentage of disabled persons.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithAs I said in a written answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Mr. Marten) on 3rd August, a discussion paper dealing with the workings of the quota system for the employment of disabled people is in course of preparation. My right hon. Friend will consider the need for measures to ensure 29W that employers fulfil their quota obligation in the light of the views and comments of the National Advisory Council for the Employment of the Disabled and other interested bodies in response to the discussion paper.
§ Dame Patricia Hornsby-Smithasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many firms in north-west Kent employing 20 or more people fail to recruit 3 per cent. disabled people.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithThe number of firms in North-West Kent employing 20 or more people which fail to satisfy their 3 per cent. quota is 420 out of a total of 861 firms with a quota obligation (for the purposes of the question, North-West Kent is regarded as comprising the areas of the following local offices of this Department: Beckenham and Penge, Bexley, Bromley, Chatham, Dartford, Erith, Gravesend, Maidstone, Orpington, Sevenoaks, Sidcup.