Jobcentres (Disabled Access) (Hansard, 19 January 1999)

§ Mr. Andrew Smith

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 Leigh Lewis to Mr. Geraint Davies, dated 19 January 1999: As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State for Education and Employment has asked me to reply direct to your question regarding the number of Jobcentres that are fully accessible for the disabled; and what percentage have the equipment and trained staff to offer a gateway interview to disabled people. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency. It may be helpful if I explain that for the last three years the Employment Service has carried out an annual audit of progress on its planned programme of works to improve the accessibility of Jobcentres to people with disabilities. This is to ensure that we comply with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act within the timescales set. The audit indicates whether our buildings have wheelchair access, loop hearing aid facilities and disabled toilets. The latest audit results showed that from a total of 1180 premises, 93% have wheelchair access for clients. The remaining offices offer alternative arrangements to clients with special needs—either arranging interviews at a nearby office with disabled access or by visiting the clients in their homes. 404W In addition, 64% of Jobcentres have toilet facilities for disabled people and 72% have loop hearing facilities. We expect these proportions to increase to 66 and 90% respectively by April 1999 as part of our planned improvement programme. With regard to the percentage of offices which have staff trained to offer New Deal gateway interviews to disabled people, I can confirm that we are normally able to provide such a service in all of our offices. I hope this is helpful.