asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the current number of employable disabled people seeking work who are unemployed, also expressed as a percentage of the number of all employable disabled people; if he will give comparable figures for the preceding five years; what action he is taking to reduce unemployment among the employable disabled; and if he will make a statement.

On 6th December, 1971, 90,214 people registered under the Disabled Persons (Employment) Acts were unemployed. Since registration under those Acts is voluntary, it is not possible to express this figure as a percentage of all employable disabled people. The comparable figures for previous years were:

7th December, 1970	75,976
8th December, 1969	71,554
9th December, 1968	68,279
11th December, 1967	63,565
12th December, 1966	54,136

Improvement in job opportunities for disabled people depends upon an upturn in employment generally, but the measures announced in the House on 25th March last year have been put into effect. Even in the difficult employment situation, disablement resettlement officers placed over 60,000 disabled people in employment in 1971.