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100946

	registered interest
	date	24/10/2014
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Industrial Health and Safety: Agriculture
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the latest figures they have of the number of fatal and serious accidents occurring in the farming industry.
	tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
	uin	HL2414
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2014 answer text <p>These figures are published on the Health and Safety Executive’s website: <a href="http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/industry/agriculture/index.htm" target="_blank">http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/industry/agriculture/index.htm</a>. They can also be found in the published report attached, “Health and safety in agriculture in Great Britain, 2014” on pages 6 and 7.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 04/11/2014 15:42:22 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud attachment 1 file name HSE Agri Stats.pdf title Health and Safety in agriculture in Great Britain
	tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

1050799

	registered interest
	date	29/01/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit: Housing
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to acknowledge and take account of 53 week rent years for recipients of Universal Credit.
	tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
	uin	HL13222
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/02/2019 answer text <p>No year contains 53 weeks. This perceived issue arises where a landlord charges rent weekly on a Monday and, because of the way the calendar falls every 5 or 6 years, seeks 53 rent payments in a year, with the 53rd payment in part covering the tenancy for the first few days of the following year.</p><p>Universal Credit is paid on a monthly cycle. Where a tenant has a weekly rental liability, they will have to make either 4 or 5 rent payments in any one month. This means that claimants are ‘overpaid’ by UC in months where they have to make four rental payments and ‘underpaid’ where they make five. But over time this broadly balances itself out. It is impossible to accurately align weekly and monthly payment cycles at all points in time.</p><p> </p><p>Where a tenant makes a 53rd weekly rent payment on the last Monday of the 2019/20 year, only two days of that payment relates to a liability falling within that year (ie payment covering Monday and Tuesday of that week as Wednesday falls in the new year). Thus, five days of that payment is an advance payment for the following month and that month has only four Mondays and hence four rent payments. The combination of the advance rent payment and the ‘overpayment’ in April 2020 means that the shortfall is immediately recovered.</p><p> </p><p>There is a separate issue with respect to the way the calculation in the Universal Credit regulations converts a weekly liability into a monthly allowance. The conversion is achieved by multiplying the weekly rent by 52 and then dividing by 12. This effectively means one day’s rent a year (two days in a leap years) are not covered by UC. We are currently considering whether this formulation around weekly rents, and potentially other weekly amounts in the UC calculation, should be amended.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 12/02/2019 17:56:53 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

1175399

	registered interest
	date	30/01/2020
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Industrial Accidents
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people were (1) killed, or (2) seriously injured, due to accidents in the agriculture sector in each year since 2000.
	tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
	uin	HL1213
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2020 answer text <p>The available data is published at <a href="https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/history/index.htm" target="_blank">https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/history/index.htm</a> but reproduced in the tables below.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Table 1: </strong>Number of fatal injuries to both workers (employees and the self-employed) and members of the public in the agricultural sector (a), 2000/01-2018/19.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong><em>Source:</em></strong> <em>Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR).</em></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Workers</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Members of the public</strong></p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2000/01</p></td><td><p>46</p></td><td><p>7</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2001/02</p></td><td><p>39</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2002/03</p></td><td><p>35</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2003/04</p></td><td><p>44</p></td><td><p>6</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2004/05</p></td><td><p>37</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2005/06</p></td><td><p>33</p></td><td><p>8</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2006/07</p></td><td><p>33</p></td><td><p>7</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2007/08</p></td><td><p>46</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2008/09</p></td><td><p>25</p></td><td><p>5</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009/10</p></td><td><p>39</p></td><td><p>5</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010/11</p></td><td><p>34</p></td><td><p>8</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011/12</p></td><td><p>35</p></td><td><p>6</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012/13</p></td><td><p>31</p></td><td><p>5</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013/14</p></td><td><p>27</p></td><td><p>4</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014/15</p></td><td><p>32</p></td><td><p>4</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015/16</p></td><td><p>27</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016/17</p></td><td><p>26</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017/18<strong>r</strong></p></td><td><p>29</p></td><td><p>4</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018/19<strong>p</strong></p></td><td><p>32</p></td><td><p>7</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Table 2: </strong>Number of reported (c) non-fatal injuries to workers (employees and the self-employed) in the agricultural sector (a), 2000/01-2018/19.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong><em>Source:</em></strong> <em>Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR).</em></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Year</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>Workers </strong></p></td><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>2000/01</p></td><td colspan="2"><p>2,053</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>2001/02</p></td><td colspan="2"><p>2,195</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>2002/03</p></td><td colspan="2"><p>1,768</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>2003/04</p></td><td colspan="2"><p>1,275</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>2004/05</p></td><td colspan="2"><p>1,241</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>2005/06</p></td><td colspan="2"><p>1,145</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>2006/07</p></td><td colspan="2"><p>1,048</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>2007/08</p></td><td colspan="2"><p>1,203</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>2008/09</p></td><td colspan="2"><p>1,230</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>2009/10</p></td><td colspan="2"><p>1,287</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>2010/11</p></td><td colspan="2"><p>1,035</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>2011/12</p></td><td colspan="2"><p>1,187</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>2012/13 <strong>(b)</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p>946</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>2013/14 <strong>(b)</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p>957</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>2014/15 <strong>(b)</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p>1,040</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>2015/16 <strong>(b)</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p>994</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>2016/17 <strong>(b)</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p>963</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>2017/18 <strong>(b)</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p>922</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><p>2018/19p <strong>(b)</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p>902</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><strong>Footnotes </strong></p><p>(a) Agriculture defined as Section A, Agriculture, forestry and fishing, of the 2007 Standard Industrial Classification.</p><p> </p><p>(b) Due to a major change in the RIDDOR reporting requirements in April 2012, injuries reported prior to 2012/13 are not directly comparable with later years.</p><p> </p><p>(c) RIDDOR requires employers to report certain workplace non-fatal injuries to workers, generally the more serious (current reporting requirements are for those injuries that result in more than 7 days absence from work or specified on a pre-defined list of injuries). It is known that employers substantially under-report these non-fatal injuries.</p><p> </p><p>(d) HSE does not publish estimates of reported non-fatal injuries to members of the public. Reporting of such incidents is highly variable by industry, with some sectors over-reporting and others under-reporting. Therefore, the count does not give a robust indication of risk to members of the public by industry sector. However, such reports continue to be received by the enforcing authorities and the decision for operational intervention is decided on a case-by-case basis.</p><p> </p><p><strong>r-</strong> revised; <strong>p-</strong> provisional</p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 10/02/2020 16:17:26 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
	tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

1191360

	registered interest
	date	28/04/2020
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Health Services: Coronavirus
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the duty of employers to report cases of COVID-19 to the Health and Safety Executive under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 where the employees have tested positive in a healthcare setting.
	tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
	uin	HL3540
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/05/2020 answer text <p>The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) provides the national reporting framework for responsible persons (usually employers) to report certain cases of injury, disease and dangerous occurrences to the Health and Safety Executive.</p><p> </p><p>In relation to the current pandemic, where an individual has either been exposed to or contracted coronavirus (SARS- COV-2) as a direct result of their work, those instances are reportable under RIDDOR either as a Dangerous Occurrence (under Regulation 7 and Schedule 2, paragraph 10) or as a disease attributed to an occupational exposure to a biological agent (under Regulation 9 (b)) or as a death as a result of occupational exposure to a biological agent under Regulation 6 (2).</p><p> </p><p>For an incident to be reportable as a Dangerous Occurrence, the incident must result (or could have resulted) in the release or escape of the coronavirus.</p><p> </p><p>For an incident to be reportable as a disease due to occupational exposure to a biological agent there must be reasonable evidence suggesting that a work-related exposure was the likely cause of COVID-19.</p><p> </p><p>Where any person dies as a result of occupational exposure to a biological agent, such as coronavirus (SARS- COV-2) this must also be reported by the responsible person.</p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 06/05/2020 13:43:30 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
	tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

1200335

	registered interest
	date	03/06/2020
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Health and Safety: Coronavirus
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government, since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, how many cases of COVID-19 considered to have been contracted in the workplace have been reported to the Health and Safety Executive under the reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations for (1) hospitals, (2) GP practices, (3) community pharmacies, and (4) prisons.
	tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
	uin	HL5208
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/07/2020 answer text <p>The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) provides the national reporting framework for responsible persons (usually employers in relation to employees) to report certain cases of injury, disease and dangerous occurrences to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).</p><p> </p><p>Where an individual has contracted COVID-19 as a direct result of their work, those instances are reportable under RIDDOR under Regulation 9 (b) either as a disease attributed to an occupational exposure to a biological agent or under Regulation 6 (2).as a death as a result of occupational exposure to a biological agent.</p><p> </p><p>The table below outlines the number of COVID-19 disease cases reported to HSE between 10 April 2020 and 30 May 2020 using standard industrial classification coding to identify the number of cases reported for (1) hospitals (2) General Practitioner practices (3) pharmacies and (4) prisons. This data is ‘as reported’ by employers.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td rowspan="2"><p><strong>Specific industry sector (as reported by employer)<sup>1</sup></strong></p></td><td rowspan="2"><p><strong>SIC<sup>2</sup> code</strong></p></td><td colspan="2" rowspan="2"><p><strong>Total Covid-19 notifications</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>Of which:</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Fatal notification</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Non-fatal notification</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Hospital activities</p></td><td><p>8610</p></td><td><p>1,526</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>28</p></td><td><p>1498</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>General medical practices</p></td><td><p>8621</p></td><td><p>51</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>48</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dispensing chemists</p></td><td><p>4773</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Justice, judicial activities</p></td><td><p>8423</p></td><td><p>4</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Grand Total</strong></p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>1,581</strong></p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>31</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>1,550</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><em>Footnotes</em></p><p><em><sup>1</sup></em><em>Industry as reported by employers.</em></p><p><em><sup>2</sup></em><em>Standard Industrial Classification (SIC): The current system used in UK official statistics for classifying businesses by type of activity they are engaged in.</em></p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 02/07/2020 13:51:57 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
	tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

1228280

	registered interest
	date	29/07/2020
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Pharmacy: Coronavirus
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that there have been no reports under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 for COVID-19 from community pharmacies.
	tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
	uin	HL7530
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/08/2020 answer text <p>For dispensing chemists, there have been 6 notifications of COVID-19 disease (non-fatal) made under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) to HSE and Local Authorities between 10 April and 25 July 2020.</p><p>No assessment has been made of the number of reports received.</p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 05/08/2020 13:21:12 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
	tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

1228282

	registered interest
	date	29/07/2020
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Health and Safety: Coronavirus
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how many cases of COVID-19 likely to have been contracted in the workplace have been reported to the Health and Safety Executive under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic for people working in (1) retail and supermarkets, (2) manufacturing, (3) food production, and (4) public transport in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Northern Ireland, and (d) Scotland.
	tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
	uin	HL7532
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/08/2020 answer text <p>The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) provides the national reporting framework for responsible persons (usually employers in relation to employees) to report certain cases of injury, disease and dangerous occurrences to the Health and Safety Executive.</p><p> </p><p>In relation to the current pandemic, where an individual has contracted COVID - 19 as a direct result of their work, those instances are reportable under RIDDOR either as a disease attributed to an occupational exposure to a biological agent (under Regulation 9 (b)) or as a death as a result of occupational exposure to a biological agent under Regulation 6 (2).</p><p> </p><p>The table below outlines the number of Covid-19 disease cases reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) between 10 April and 25<sup>th</sup> July using standard industrial classification coding to identify the number of cases reported for (1) retail and supermarkets (2) manufacturing (3) food production, and (4) public transport in (a) England (b) Wales and (c) Scotland. This data is “as reported” by employers.</p><p> </p><p>HSE does not hold data in respect of Northern Ireland as this is reported directly to the Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland (HSENI) and is collated by them.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Table: Worker COVID-19 Disease reports made by employers to HSE and local authorities by disease severity, specific industry sector<sup>1</sup>, and country, 10<sup>th</sup> April – 25<sup>th</sup> July 2020</strong></p><p>(Source: RIDDOR disease reporting)</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong> Country</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Specific industry sector (as reported by employer)<sup>1</sup></strong></p></td><td><p><strong>SIC<sup>2</sup> code</strong></p></td><td><p><strong> <strong>Total COVID-19 notifications</strong></strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>England</p></td><td><p>Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles</p></td><td><p>Division 47</p></td><td><p>18</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Manufacturing</p></td><td><p>Section C</p></td><td><p>67</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Manufacture of food products<strong><sup>3</sup></strong></p></td><td><p>Division 10</p></td><td><p>43</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Other passenger land transport</p></td><td><p>Group 49.3</p></td><td><p>6</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Wales</p></td><td><p>Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles</p></td><td><p>Division 47</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Manufacturing</p></td><td><p>Section C</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Manufacture of food products<strong><sup>3</sup></strong></p></td><td><p>Division 10</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Other passenger land transport</p></td><td><p>Group 49.3</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Scotland</p></td><td><p>Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles</p></td><td><p>Division 47</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Manufacturing</p></td><td><p>Section C</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Manufacture of food products<strong><sup>3</sup></strong></p></td><td><p>Division 10</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Other passenger land transport</p></td><td><p>Group 49.3</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><em>Footnotes</em></p><p><em><sup>1</sup></em><em>Industry as reported by employers.</em></p><p><em><sup>2</sup></em><em>Standard Industrial Classification (SIC): The current system used in UK official statistics for classifying businesses by type of activity they are engaged in.</em></p><p><em><sup>3</sup></em><em>Manufacturing of food products is a division within the overall Manufacturing section.</em></p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 06/08/2020 11:17:17 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
	tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

58587

	registered interest
	date	05/06/2014
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Credit Unions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the progress of the Credit Union Expansion Project.
	tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
	uin	HL112
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2014 answer text <p /> <p>The DWP Credit Union Expansion Project contract began in May 2013. Around 80 credit unions are currently participating in the project. ABCUL has started delivering the Automated Loan and decision tool to participating credit unions and feedback is that the tool is ensuring loan decisions are faster, consistent and more efficient to deliver. Procurement of an IT banking platform is also being progressed but much remains to be done particularly on achieving sufficient growth for Credit Unions, and DWP continue to support and monitor the project closely</p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 10/06/2014 13:43:31 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
	tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

598093

	registered interest
	date	10/10/2016
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Disability: Employment Schemes
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	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.
	tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
	uin	HL2122
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2016 answer text <p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 24/10/2016 12:32:30 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
	tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

598094

	registered interest
	date	10/10/2016
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Disability: Employment
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that they meet their target of halving the disability employment gap.
	tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
	uin	HL2123
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2016 answer text <p>In the last three years, the number of disabled people in work has increased by almost half a million. But we recognise that the gap between the employment rates of disabled people and non-disabled people remains too large. That is why we are committed to halving it.</p><p>Last year the Work and Health Unit was established to lead the drive for improving work and health outcomes for people with health conditions and disabilities, as well as improving support for people absent from work through ill health and those at risk of leaving workforce.</p><p>The Unit has begun work to build the evidence base of what works to support disabled people and people with health conditions to obtain and remain in work. We are increasing the reach of Access to Work which provide support to an additional 25,000 people per year by 2021, and we have recently launched the Access to Work Digital Service which as so far received an average of 500 claims per week. We are more than doubling Disability Employment Advisors in job centres to help disabled people into employment and embedding employment advisers in IAPT, so that individuals with mental health conditions can receive timely and tailored employment advice.</p><p>We will soon publish a Green Paper that will 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. We will engage with disabled people, their representative organisations and a wide range of other stakeholders, who all have an important part to play in making the transformative changes required for long-term reform on supporting disabled people into work.</p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 24/10/2016 12:39:10 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
	tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark