New chair of Disability Employment Advisory Committee named

The government has appointed a new chair to the Disability Employment Advisory Committee, which advises the Department for Work and Pensions on barriers faced by disabled people trying to get work.

Elaine Noad, commissioner for Scotland for the Disability Rights Commission, will take up the post immediately for a period of three years.

The part-time post will receive a salary for the first time. Previously the chair was only paid for loss of earnings and expenses.

Minister for disabled people, Anne McGuire, said Noad would enable the Disability Employment Advisory Committee to continue its valuable work in providing strategic advice to Department of Work and Pensions ministers and officials as the department took forward its welfare reform agenda.
Noad said that enabling more disabled people to get into and stay in work was central to ensuring a fair and equal society.