Disabled People (Hansard, 27 November 1990)

§ Mr. Howard

I have decided to give unemployeed people with disabilities priority access to our main employment and training programmes. From April next year they will become one of the key groups for entry on to employment training, the enterprise allowance scheme, job clubs and the job interview guarantee. Training and enterprise councils and the Employment Service will 387W ensure that people with disabilities who are unemployed will be given this priority recognition. This will help strengthen their opportunity to participate in the labour market.

I have recently written to TEC chairmen about this new priority and special guidance has been issued about people who have special training needs, such as people with disabilities, so as to help TECs plan and implement their strategies for taking action. This is in addition to existing good practice guidance on the training of people with disabilities produced by my Department, most notably the "Building on Ability" guide. Promoting and encouraging dissemination of good practice to and between TECs and training providers will continue to be an important function of the Department. All this is particularly important as currently over 10 per cent. of people on employment training identify themselves as having a disability or long-term health problem.

I also recently launched the new symbol that is currently being promoted by the Employment Service aimed at encouraging and helping employers on a voluntary basis to commit themselves publicly to good policies and practices. Employers have an important role in providing opportunities for people with disabilities. My Department seeks increasingly to promote good employment practices and provide effective advice on recruitment, integration, career development and retention, mainly through the Disablement Advisory Service.

The increased priority being given to people with disabilities on our programmes and the new symbol are reflections of our commitment to ensure that people with disabilities are able to participate fully in training and employment. They already have access to the full range of non-specialist employment services, in many cases with easier eligibility or length of stay rules and special help. The extension of job clubs which I recently announced will further help people with disabilities. Research has shown that in general people who had participated in job clubs were 50 per cent. more likely to be in work than comparable people who had not, but that the difference was even greater for people with disabilities. The job interview guarantee is also being extended and that, too, can provide very significant help to people with disabilities.

There is also a wide range of services and schemes specifically designed to help people with disabilities obtain and retain employment. This includes: —specialist assessment and rehabilitation services which provided 37,000 courses for over 25,000 people in 1989–90; —special schemes to help overcome some of the problems people with disabilities may encounter in getting or keeping employment, such as assistance with adapting premises and equipment, with fares to work or with trying out a job or starting a business. Over 7,500 successful applications for help under the special schemes were made in 1989–90; —funds for voluntary bodies, local authorities and Remploy to provide employment opportunities for severely disabled people who could not otherwise get work. Over 20,000 people with severe disabilities were employed through the sheltered employment programme at the end of 1989–90.

Disablement resettlement officers help people with disabilities make use of these services and identify the right sort of help necessary to meet their employment and training needs. In 1989–90 a total of 20,500 people with disabilities were placed into employment by these officers.

My Department has also issued in recent months two consultation documents which together look for the first 388W time in over 40 years at all the employment and training services we provide for people with disabilities. We make proposals and raise issues for discussion with a view to improving the effectiveness of the help we have to offer. "Employment and Training for People with Disabilities" was published in June and an evaluation of the special schemes was published in November. We will be coming to conclusions on what further action we can take to help meet the employment and training needs of people with disabilities, as well as the needs of the labour market, after we have considered all the comments we receive early next year.