Minister for Disabled People Justin Tomlinson MP, has spoken at a roundtable event hosted by think tank Reform on how to close the disability employment gap.
Reform is a non-party think tank and registered charity which produces research based on core issues including the economy, health, education, welfare and law and order. They hosted the roundtable in partnership with PeoplePlus in order to explore how integration of back-to-work and health services can help to narrow the disability employment gap.
Those who attended included representatives from Scope, Citizen’s Advice Bureau, the Papworth Trust, Arthritis Research UK, Macmillan and Ambitious about Autism.
Justin spoke of the Government’s commitment to halving the disability employment gap and giving disabled people the opportunity to fulfil their potential and achieve their ambitions. In the past year there has been an increase of nearly 226,000 more disabled people into work, however there is still a long way to go to achieve the Government’s aim. Justin outlined the following initiatives which his department is working on in order to get more disabled people into work:
· Extend the Access to Work programme
· Launch the specialist employment support
· Extending Work Choice to 2017
· Continue the Disability Confident campaign
· Establish a Work and Health Joint Unit
Justin Tomlinson MP said: “I have met with many of the organisations who attended the roundtable individually, as well as the Disability Charities Consortium, all of whom have lent their support to the government’s ambition to halve the disability employment gap. This roundtable has proved a constructive opportunity to discuss how best to achieve this goal.”
