§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many local offices of national industries in the six areas covered by the pilot scheme of rigorous quota enforcement were employing less than their 3 per cent. registered disabled people; whether any of these branches made registered disabled people redundant during the period; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerThe quota position of nationalised industries is calculated by reference to the undertaking as a whole and therefore information about individual local offices is not available.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what is his estimate of the number of registered disabled people who have been made redundant in the last six months;
(2) what is his estimate of the number of firms who have made registered disabled people redundant in the last six months and were below quota or have thus rendered themselves below quota requirements; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerI regret that information on which to base such estimates is not available.
§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Employment against how many employers he has decided to institute proceedings for infringement of the quota provisions during the programme 365W of stricter enforcement in Ayr, Cambridge, Middlesbrough, St. Helens, Wrexham, and Walsall.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerTwo.
§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Employment what discussions he has had with the TUC concerning redundancies of disabled workers which would involve employers in breaching the requirements of the quota scheme; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerThere have been no special discussions of this kind but there has been consultations with the Trades Union Congress about the Employment Protection Bill, which provides for trade unions to be consulted in redundancy situations.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many branches of Government Departments in the six areas in which his Department undertook a pilot project or rigorous enforcement of the quota scheme were not employing 3 per cent. registered disabled persons; whether any of these branches made registered disabled people redundant during the survey; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Charles R. MorrisI have been asked to reply.
The provisions of the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act 1944 are not binding on the Crown, but the Government have agreed that Departments should accept the same responsibilities as other employers. For the purpose of administration of the quota, each Government Department, but not each individual branch office, is considered a separate employer. I would refer my hon. Friend to my Written Answer of 23rd June 1975 for the number and percentage of registered disabled people employed by each Government Department. I regret that stastistics are not available centrally for departmental branch offices; nor are figures available centrally on the number of registered disabled staff who may have been made redundant during the period of the survey.—[Vol. 894, c. 163.]