Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-10-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of support services for people with complex needs when entering the labour market; and what steps they are taking to make recruitment processes accessible for all.

Lord Freud

We have been engaging with a variety of stakeholders and partners, including those with an interest in people with complex needs, to understand their view of current employment support. We will soon publish a Green Paper to explore a range of options for long-term reform across different sectors enabling everyone to realise their aspirations, regardless of their health condition or disability.

The Government is committed to enabling all disabled people to fulfil their potential. Work is an important part of this, and the Government wants all disabled people and people with a long term health condition to go as far as their talents will take them.

We are supporting this through Access to Work, which has specialist teams to provide a dedicated service to particular groups of people including those with complex needs.

Our new Disability Confident employer scheme went live on 14 July 2016. When employers sign up as Disability Confident they are asked to make specific meaningful offers of opportunities for disabled people such as jobs, apprenticeships, internships, and work experience opportunities.