§ Mr. Ovendenasked the Secretary of State for Employment what provision his Department makes for assisting less severely disabled persons with travel to work; and what plans he has to improve this scheme.
§ Mrs. Chalkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment what was the total expenditure of his Department, for the last convenient annual period, in assisting disabled persons with expenses incurred in travelling to and from work; and what steps he will take to ensure that the additional travel-to-work assistance will continue to be available from his Department to those disabled persons not entitled to the mobility allowance, but still needing financial help to travel to and from work, where they are too disabled to use public transport.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerI am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that the Employment Service Agency operates a scheme under which registered disabled people who are employed under special conditions, who need personal226W transport to get to work and who otherwise would suffer financial hardship, can receive financial assistance with their fares to work. £56,400 was spent on this scheme during the year ended 30th September 1975. Help under the scheme will continue to be available, after the introduction of the mobility allowance, to those eligible under the criteria of the ESA scheme, even though they may not be entitled to a mobility allowance. There are no plans at present to improve the scheme.
§ Mr. Martenasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many firms, at the latest date for which figures are available, were subject to the disabled persons employment quota requirements; how many of these were fulfilling their quota and what percentage this represents; how many were below quota and what percentage this represents; of those below quota, how many had applied for a permit in the last 12 months and what percentage this represents; how many had not applied for a permit in the last 12 months and what percentage this represents; and how many had not complied with the quota in the last five years.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerFollowing is the information at 1st June 1975. All percentages relate to the total number of firms with quota obligations.
1. Number of firms subject to the disabled persons employment quota requirements 53,031 2. Number and percentage of these firms fulfilling their quota 20,676 (38.9 per cent.) 3. Number and percentage of these firms below quota 32,355 (61.1 per cent.) 4. Number and percentage of firms below quota which had applied for a permit in the previous 12 months 21,611 (40.8 per cent.) 5. Number and percentage of firms below quota which had not applied for a permit in the previous 12 months 10,744 (20.3 per cent.) 6. Number of firms which had not complied with the quota at any time in the previous five years 15,243
§ Mr. Martenasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many prosecutions there have been under the quota scheme for disabled people in each of the last five years.
227W
§ Mr. Harold WalkerThe information is as follows:
1971 and 1972 0 1973 1 1974 1 1975 3
§ Mr. Martenasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many persons were, at the latest date for which figures are available, on his Department's register for disabled people; how many of these were unemployed; and what percentage of the total they represented.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerOn 9th October 1975, 72,500 registered disabled people were unemployed. This figure represents 13 per cent. of the total of 557,217 people on the Register of Disabled Persons.
§ Mr. Martenasked the Secretary of State for Employment what, at the latest date for which figures are available, was the percentage of the total work force in firms subject to the quota requirement represented by registered disabled people.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerAt 1st June 1975 the percentage was 1.86.