Source · Select Committees · Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 1
1
It is regrettable that the publication of three key documents—the Green Paper, the National Strategy...
Conclusion
It is regrettable that the publication of three key documents—the Green Paper, the National Strategy and the Government’s response to the “Health is everyone’s business” consultation—has been delayed significantly over the course of our inquiry. The Government’s approach to the timing of their publication has severely limited Parliament’s opportunities to scrutinise these important policy documents. In finalising this report, we have had only one working day to consider the two papers that have been published, and so we address them only briefly. We have had no sight at all of the National Strategy for Disabled People. We very much hope that the Government will set out in the Strategy a clear plan for reducing the disability employment gap over the next five years. We expect to scrutinise all three documents further in the months to come. (Paragraph 9) Measuring disability employment
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
There has been good progress in reducing the disability employment gap – it has closed by around 5 percentage points since 2013 (when the current way of measuring disability began). Having clear goals to reduce the disability employment gap and increase the number of disabled people in employment provides a fuller picture of progress than a single goal. We have committed to publishing annual statistical updates on disability employment, which cover the gap and wider trends. The next statistical update will be published shortly in November 2021. It is worth noting that the Government has goals for disability employment and not targets. This is because external factors such as the size of the underlying disabled population and overall labour market performance will have an impact on disability employment, as well as interventions both from within and outside of Government. Setting a goal of seeing 1.2 million more disabled people in work over the next 5 years is very unlikely to halve the gap. This is because, based on past trends, the size of the disabled population will also increase during this time. An increase of 1.2 million disabled people in work would result in an estimated reduction in the gap of around 5 percentage points. We will seek to achieve the current goal, to see a million more disabled people in work in the decade to 2027 or ahead of the date given the good progress so far. As and when we achieve that, we will consider a further ambitious goal. Measuring disability employment Data collation