asked Her Majesty’s Government:

What recent changes have been made to the funding of the Access to Work programme.

My Lords, from 1 October 2006 ministerial government departments took on responsibilities from the Access to Work scheme for funding workplace disability adjustments. This will allow a greater focus of the scheme on small businesses.

My Lords, is my noble friend aware that the ending of funding in government departments for Access to Work is regretted by some people and resented by many more because of the damage it does to jobs for disabled people in government departments? Does he not feel that disabled people who work in government departments are entitled to the same help with their work as people elsewhere? If so, he should withdraw this change in policy because it means that disabled people are going to suffer very greatly. Will he explain to the House how the Government reconcile their view that this change is necessary with their definite policy statement that 1 million disabled people should be taken off incapacity benefit and put into work?

My Lords, there is no question but that we expect government departments to be good employers for disabled people. The recommendation that we followed was contained in the life chances report issued by the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit. More money is now being made available from the Access to Work scheme for small businesses. It is right to expect that government departments will take on responsibility. There is no reason whatsoever to doubt that they will do so and that disabled people will benefit from it.

My Lords, the concern of the disabled lobby is that there may be a disincentive to the government departments to continue employing people for whom they have to make this extra payment. How many payments have the Minister’s department shed and passed on to government departments? How many were claiming? Is there a breakdown according to each government department? These figures would be extremely valuable in assessing the future position and seeing whether there has been a disincentive.

My Lords, there is no question of a transfer to other government departments, because the money released will be used to finance more schemes for small businesses. It is quite within the capacity and baseline funding allocations of those government departments to fund schemes from now on. I have a provisional breakdown of the numbers involved per government department, which I am happy to place in the Library and send to the noble Baroness. Overall we think that there are about 239 posts, but they are provisional.

It is worth making the point that there has been a huge expansion in the resource for this excellent scheme, from £14 million in 1997-98 to £62 million in 2006-07. The Government are right behind the scheme.

My Lords, how do the Government plan to gather evidence of any positive impact on employment rates of disabled people in the small and medium business sector?

My Lords, that is a very important question. It goes back to the point raised by my noble friend—that if we are to increase the number of people coming off incapacity benefit into work, it is essential that employers ensure that posts are offered. As part of taking that work forward, we shall keep a close watch on what is happening within small employers. But I have no doubt that in the context of welfare reform and the new provisions in disability discrimination legislation that came in last year—in terms of public authorities, they are due to come in in a few weeks’ time—there will be greater provision for these programmes in future.

My Lords, does the Minister agree that, whatever happens with this scheme—whichever way is most efficient when the money is moved around—we shall not know unless we have successful monitoring? Where is the monitoring to be found and what publicity is to be given to the Access to Work scheme, which has been described as one of the best kept secrets in Whitehall?

My Lords, I hope that it is not a best kept secret. As part of the arrangements for transferring responsibility, officials in Jobcentre Plus have been in close contact with other government departments to ensure that the changeover will be as smooth as possible. Of course, we shall keep this under review; the responsibilities of each government department under the Disability Discrimination Act will in any case ensure that the matter is monitored. If there are found to be problems, I shall be absolutely determined to ensure that my department looks into them.

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend Lord Ashley for raising this important issue. Will any central government funding strategies be put in place specifically to counter disincentives to employing disabled people and to incentivise departments of state that are capable of doing very much more?

No, my Lords. We have increased the overall funding to the Access to Work programme to £62 million for 2006-07, which is a huge increase. I do not believe that central government departments need additional funding. They should be quite able to take on this responsibility within their own baseline expenditure.

My Lords, the Minister gave a long answer to the noble Baroness, Lady Darcy de Knayth, but did not actually answer her question. How is the information to be gathered from small and medium-sized businesses?

My Lords, I said that as part of taking forward the welfare reform programme we would keep under review the progress made in relation to the employment of disabled people by small businesses. A variety of methods will be used. It is impossible to give the methodology in great detail. Because of the importance of small businesses taking on responsibility in relation to disabled people and employing them, it will be vital for the success of the welfare reform strategy.

My Lords, one trade union described this change of policy as devastating. That trade union believes that local management will not be prepared to pay for very severely disabled people. How does my noble friend respond to that?

My Lords, I do not think that it will be devastating. We have already been in contact with each government department, and I do not think that there will be problems. I assure my noble friend that if there are problems such as he identified, my department will be very quick to interact with the relevant department to ensure that the success of this programme is continued under the new arrangements.