§ Mr. SpearingTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what factors led her to reduce her Department's expenditure for disbursement via the access to work scheme for disabled employees; and what estimate she has made of the number of persons in employment on account of this scheme whose employment will be terminated by the planned reductions. [14761]
§ Mr. ForthResponsibility 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 Mike Fogden to Mr. Nigel Spearing, dated 13 February 1996:
532WThe Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the expenditure on Access to Work; and for an estimate of the number of people, in employment on account of the programme, whose employment will consequently be terminated.The expenditure on Access to Work has not been reduced. The Secretary of State announced on 14 December that additional funds had been allocated to meet the demand made on the programme this year. You may know that by the end of December some 12,000 people had been helped—close to 2,000 more than for the whole of 1994/95.We are continuing to support people in employment to whom we have an existing commitment and I would not expect there to be any change to their employment position.I hope this is helpful.