HC Deb 24 July 2002 vol 389 cc1575-6W
Mr. Davidson

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) if he will list the measures that have been introduced by this Government to make it easier for people with disabilities to gain employment; how many residents in(a) Glasgow, Pollok and (b) the City of Glasgow Council area have benefited from each of these proposals; how many people with disabilities in (i) Glasgow, Pollok and (ii) the City of Glasgow are seeking work; and if he will make a statement; [68804]

(2) what assessment he has made of the reasons disabled people are over-represented among the unemployed; and what steps he plans to take to address these issues. [69361]

Mr Nicholas Brown

Health problems are the most common barrier to work for people with disabilities, although research indicates that a broad range of non-medical factors such as availability of suitable work, confidence, level of skills, discrimination and financial considerations are also relevant.

We have introduced a range of measures to address these issues, making work possible and making work pay for people with disabilities. We have introduced the Disabled Person's Tax Credit and the National Minimum Wage. The New Deal for Disabled People and a range of specialist employment programmes such as Access To Work, WORKSTEP and Work Preparation are available to support disabled people who want to work.

In addition, most disabled people are able to make effective use of mainstream employment and training programmes. Integrated Jobcentre Plus offices offer all disabled people making new or repeat claims to benefit interviews with a personal adviser to ensure they are aware of the help and opportunities available to them. Specialist Disability Employment Advisers are available throughout Jobcentre plus to provide further support to people facing complex barriers to work.

We set up the Disability Rights Commission in April 2000. Its function is to work towards the elimination of discrimination and promote equality of opportunities for disabled people, promote good practice to employers and service providers, provide information and advice about the Disability Discrimination Act, and advise the Government on a range of policy issues within its remit.

We are also removing obstacles to work within the benefit system. For example, we have extended the Incapacity Benefit linking rules to 52 weeks, or 2 years for people receiving Disabled Persons Tax Credit, allowing disabled people to try out work safe in the knowledge that they can return to the same rate of benefit if the job doesn't work out. From April of this year, we have introduced the new permitted work rules to allow all people receiving incapacity benefits to try a small amount of work without the fear of losing their benefit entitlement.

The information requested is not available at constituency or local authority level.