Disabled People

HC Deb 12 January 2004 vol 416 c557W

Jim Sheridan

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress he has made in enabling disabled people to play a full and active role in society. [146801]

Maria Eagle

Good progress. For example we have legislated to extend the provisions of the DDA to education.

There has been a narrowing of the gap between the employment levels of disabled people and non-disabled people.

But more needs to be done.

In October we are implementing new obligations on service providers to remove, alter or avoid physical features which prevent disabled people accessing services. (Among others this will apply to MPs)

We are also extending the employment provisions of the DDA to more occupations and to almost all employers of whatever size. This will bring one million small employers and seven million more jobs into the protection of the Act.