§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he will list for the last five years the number of disabled individuals in the Doncaster area who have benefited from the Government's present provision of assistance towards(a) special aids to employment, (b) adaptation to premises, (c) fares to work and (d) the personal reader scheme;
(2) what has been spent in the last five years in the Doncaster area on disabled individuals on assistance towards (a) special aids to employment, (b) adaptation to premises, (c) fares to work and (d) the personal reader scheme.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythResponsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
687WLetter from M. E. G. Fogden to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 19 January 1994:
As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your Question about the number of disabled individuals and what has been spent in the last five years in the Doncaster area on assistance to people with disabilities on the Special Schemes; (a) special aids to employment (b) adaptation to premises (c) fares to work and (d) the personal reader scheme.
The information you have asked for is not held centrally and I have asked my people to investigate the availability of the details you request. I will send details to you as soon as they are available.
As decided by the Administration Committee of the House of Commons, Chief Executive replies to written Parliamentary Questions will now be published in the Official Report. I will also place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.
§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list for the Doncaster area the companies that currently display the two-tick symbol denoting them as positive about disabled people and are complying with the criteria required.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythResponsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 19 January 1994:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your Question requesting a list of companies in the Doncaster area who currently display the disability symbol (the "two-tick symbol") denoting them as positive about disabled people.
Unfortunately I am unable to enclose the list you request with this reply. As you may know, the disability symbol was first introduced in 1990. It was reviewed towards the end of 1992 and, in order to clarify its meaning and improve its impact, we have introduced changes to the initiative which came into effect on 1 June 1993.
These changes have meant that the earlier symbol users needed to re-examine their practices and, in some cases, to introduce changes before confirming whether or not they would continue to use the symbol. My field disability service has been working to contact all symbol users, discuss the new commitments and confirm which employers would continue under the new arrangements.
Although we have recently compiled a draft list of symbol users throughout the country, we are not yet satisfied that older users of the symbol who are not continuing as symbol users have been fully weeded out. It is, of course, very important that we are able to provide a full and accurate list of organisations using the symbol and we are reluctant to release it, or any parts of it, until we have had a further opportunity to check its accuracy.
The checking process is now in hand and I would hope to write to you again within the next few weeks with a list of current symbol users in the Doncaster area. The national list of symbol users will also be included.
I hope this is helpful.