You asked
Can you please provide the total no of people in Scotland who are currently unemployed due to illness or disability (by type of benefit being claimed if possible).
We said
Thank you for your request.
Data on the number of people who are unemployed and who have long-term health conditions or who meet the definition of disabled, by region/country in the UK, are available from the Annual Population Survey (APS). These estimates are published on Nomis, here:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/query/construct/summary.asp?mode=construct&version=0&dataset=17
On this page you can select 'Scotland' from the 'Geography' category and then, under 'Variable', you can choose from the drop-down menu either (a) 'Disability (Equality Act) core level by economic activity (new)' and then select whichever unemployment rate options you are interested in, or (b) 'Economic activity of those with health conditions or illnesses lasting more than 12 months' and then select '% with health conditions or illnesses lasting more than 12 months in unemployed (aged 16+)' or one of the other options if you're interested in a specific type of health condition. Once you've made your selections, you can download the data in the format of your choice.
Whichever option you choose, it is important to note that the estimates will be the number of people who are unemployed with a disability/illness, not the number of people who are unemployed because of a disability/illness. The survey does not collect information on reasons for unemployment, as to be defined as unemployed a person has to be actively seeking work. However, data on the number of people who are economically inactive by reason are available from the APS and are published on Nomis, here:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/query/construct/summary.asp?mode=construct&version=0&dataset=181
On this page you can select 'Scotland' from the 'Geography' category and 'Temporary sick' and/or 'Long-term sick' from the 'Reasons For Economic Inactivity' category. Again, once you've made your selections, you can download the data in the format of your choice.
The APS also collects information on the type of benefit being claimed but, unfortunately, this information is not available via Nomis. However, these estimates could be produced from the APS microdata as part of our bespoke service. Such a service would fall outside of the Freedom of Information regime and would be subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreement of costs where appropriate. Our bespoke service is managed by the customer services team of ONS's Social Surveys Division, so if you would like to enquire about obtaining these estimates, please contact them at socialsurveys@ons.gov.uk.
Another route would be to access the anonymised APS datasets at the UK Data Service if you are able to run your own analysis. Data can be downloaded free of charge for non-commercial purposes but if charges are applicable, you will be notified during the ordering process. Details of how to access the data can be found here: http://ukdataservice.ac.uk/get-data/how-to-access.aspx.