HC Deb 14 October 1996 vol 282 c724W
Mr. David Marshall

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list the number of blind and disabled people and the number of able-bodied people employed in each sheltered workshop in Scotland indicating the cost of each category in each workshop; and if she will make a statement. [40034]

Mr. Forth

Responsibility 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. David Marshall, dated 14 October 1996: The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the number of people employed in Supported Workshops in Scotland. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency. Information on the number of people in Scottish workshops supported by the Employment Service (ES) under its Supported Employment Programme is provided at Annex 1. The Programme is provided under contracts between the workshop owners (who are local authorities or voluntary bodies) and the ES and covers placements with employers as well as workshop places. Information on the costs of workshop employees in the requested categories (blind people, other disabilities and non-disabled people) is not available. It is not required for management purposes by the ES; no figures are therefore obtained or kept. Information on the per capita costs of disabled employees supported by the ES is gathered by the ES from voluntary body and local authority contractors as it is a requirement for funding. Contractors provide this information to the ES on a confidential basis as it is commercially sensitive and so individual workshop figures are not publicly available from the ES. However the average cost per disabled employee in Scottish workshops, in 1994/95, the latest year for which figures are available, was £10,695. In that year costs ranged from a loss of £18,783 per worker in one workshop to a loss of £4,421 per worker in another. I hope this is helpful.