AQW 3829/22-27

Mr John Blair
Alliance Party
South Antrim

Tabled Date: 30/09/2022
Answered On Date: 12/10/2022
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Communities whether her Department will (i) review; and (ii) increase the support it offers to claimants whose capability for work is affected because they are disabled or have a health condition, including people who have dyslexia.

Answer:

The Department is fully committed to supporting those with disabilities and health conditions to progress towards, move into and stay in employment.

Our wide ranging provision supports customers through both specialist and pan-disability approaches, and includes Workable, Access to Work, the Condition Management Programme, £1.5m in match funding for European Social Funded Programmes, specialist pathways within JobStart, and a range of more general labour market interventions to help remove barriers to employment, such as childcare.

We also collaborate closely with partners in central and local government, and those within the voluntary and community sector. Our Labour Market Partnerships form an essential link for collaborative and localised commissioning of labour market provision, with disability identified as one of six key thematic areas.

The Department has an ongoing programme of review and continuous improvement across its provision and services. For example, work is well underway to refresh our Access to Work and Workable programmes into a new In-Work Support provision.

In addition, my Department has led development of a new Disability and Work Strategy, which will set a long term commitment to increasing the rate of disability employment.