§ Mr. AllanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what research his Department has carried out on the level of awareness of the Access to Work scheme among(a) employers and (b) disabled people. [131820]
§ Ms Hodge[holding answer 21 July 2000]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.
441WLetter from Leigh Lewis to Mr. Richard Allan, dated 24 July 2000:
As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about research on the level of awareness of the Access to Work programme among employers and disabled people. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.We have not undertaken any specific research into the level of awareness of Access to Work. However, in 1998 the Institute of Employment Studies carried out an independent evaluation of Access to Work for the Employment Service. They found that recipients had learnt about Access to Work from a wide range of sources, indicating that knowledge of Access to Work is widespread among agencies helping disabled people, including family doctors, social services departments, health services, hospitals, employment agencies, employers and organisations and support groups for disabled people.We have recently contracted for an independent survey of Access to Work recipients to be undertaken later this year. The survey will ask how recipients found out about the Access to Work programme and about their knowledge of what it can provide for disabled people.I hope this is helpful.