division_name: Bbc White Paper &#8212; Disability Employment Gap
motion: <p class="indent" pid="a1258.0/2" pwmotiontext="yes">That this House regrets the Government's lack of progress towards halving the disability employment gap; further regrets that the Government has not yet published its White Paper on improving support for disabled people; notes with concern that commitments made in the Autumn Statement 2015 to help more disabled people through Access to Work and expanding Fit for Work have not materialised; further notes that the Government is reducing funding for specialist support for claimants with health conditions and disabilities through the Work and Health Programme; and calls on the Government to reverse cuts to the work-related activity component of Employment and Support Allowance and Universal Credit work allowances that risk widening the disability employment gap.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1258.0/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;we see benefits as a pot of money to cut because they don&#8217;t vote for us&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1259.0/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;halve the disability employment gap&#8230;transform policy, practice and public attitudes, so that hundreds of thousands more disabled people who can and want to be in work find employment&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1260.0/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The &#8216;20-metre rule&#8217; does not assess how someone&#8217;s mobility is affected by their condition. Occasionally I may be able to walk 20 metres, but on other days&#8230;I could fall&#8230;decreasing my mobility further&#8230;I could&#8230;choose not to work, but&#8230;As a nurse, I make a difference in my role, but it seems like the DWP is trying to prevent me from doing so.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1263.1/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The cut to the WRAG will push people&#8230;even further from the workplace.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1263.1/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;will widen the disability employment gap rather than reduce it.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1263.1/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Implying that ill and disabled people will be motivated into work if their benefits are cut is misguided and insulting.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1263.1/10" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;To secure my trust, I need to believe in the White Paper and that the &#163;100 million will go some way to help those people. That is my warning shot to the Government.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2016-02-23">23 February</phrase> 2016; Vol. 606, c. 215.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1263.1/12" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;White Paper is incredibly important to the matter we are discussing, because it is the replacement for what the Government are proposing to remove.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2016-02-23">23 February</phrase> 2016; Vol. 606, c. 222.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1263.1/14" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;I was about to vote against ESA cuts when he&#8221;&#8212;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1263.1/16" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;sought me out - he personally and angrily begged me not to&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1263.1/18" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Promised me he was introducing a white paper which guaranteed enhanced and more easily accessible benefits for the seriously disabled&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1263.4/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;should be transformed from being the best kept secret in Government to being a recognised passport to successful employment&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1272.0/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;is not right for everyone&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1274.0/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;less than two in ten people with a learning disability are in employment&#8221;,</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1274.0/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;eight out of ten being able to work with the right support&#8221;,</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1274.0/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;being able to work with the right support&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1274.0/9" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;support is often not available or those giving that support often do not understand learning disability.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1274.0/11" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;I&#8217;m not sure what I can ask of an employer, for example, if I want to work at an Apple Store but all the tables are too high for me to reach can I ask the employer to make the tables accessible to me? I also sometimes worry that employers may choose another applicant for a position because they believe it would be easier to employ them, even if I am the best person for the job. I would however like to say that when I went for the interview for my apprenticeship my school were very supportive, but that may be because they already know me and I&#8217;ve been there for the past five years.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1275.1/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;It is bad enough that the government spends so much of its time and resources on finding ways to deny&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1275.1/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;benefits and support but then not to put measures in place that would increase employment opportunities really is a double whammy for disabled people. The fact is that it is only when we see a government seriously committed to equality will we get progress.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1287.0/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;lack of progress towards halving the disability employment gap&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1288.1/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;regrets that the Government has not yet published its White Paper&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1288.1/6" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;with concern that commitments made in the Autumn Statement 2015 to help more disabled people through Access to Work and expanding Fit for Work have not materialised&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1288.1/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;a real terms increase in spending on Access to Work&#8230;to help a further 25,000 disabled people each year remain in work&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1288.1/10" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;expanding the Fit for Work service&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1288.1/12" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;over &#163;115 million of funding for the Joint Work and Health Unit&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1289.1/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;further notes that the Government is reducing funding&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a1292.0/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The Fit for Work initiative will give tens of thousands of people across Wales the support they need to return to their jobs more quickly. This is clearly good for the Welsh economy.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="italic" pid="a1301.0/5" pwmotiontext="yes">The House divided:</p>
  
  <p pid="a1301.0/6" pwmotiontext="yes">Ayes 215, Noes 262.</p>