As part of National Employability Day, North Swindon MP, and Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, Justin Tomlinson appeared on Chaos TV to discuss employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
Chaos TV is an online radio channel, which runs in partnership with PLUSS – a charity which supports people with disabilities and other disadvantages move into employment each year. The Chaos TV studio has been designed to be as accessible as possible, and it is one of the few wheelchair and disability friendly studios in the area.
National Employability Day is the UK’s largest celebration for organisations supporting people into work. The annual event also provides an opportunity to increase understanding and awareness of the role they undertake.
During the broadcast Justin talked about the work he has been doing as Minister for Disabled People to promote the benefits of employing people with a disability, and encouraging businesses to have the confidence to employ someone with a disability.
As the Minister for Disabled People, Justin has worked with Pluss and others to expand the Disability Confident Campaign, which breaks down the barriers around employing disabled people, and promotes the benefits of this to businesses, the individuals themselves, and the wider economy.
Last year the disability employment figures rose by 400,000, and are up 1.4m since 2014. The working age disability employment rate has now reached 53.8%, up another 2 percentage points, with the disability employment gap closing again by 1.3 percentage points.
Justin Tomlinson said: “I am passionate about increasing employment opportunities for people with disabilities, who really do have so much to offer employers. The work done by organisations such as PLUSS are vital in supporting this work, and I was delighted to be able to take part in National Employability Day and celebrate the work they do. I am very proud of the work the DWP has done so far, and I am absolutely committed to the target of 1m more disabled people in work by 2027. My colleagues and I continue to do everything we can to support Disabled People & businesses through our Job Centres, Health & Work Providers and Access to Work & Disability Confident schemes.”
