Former social worker Jonathan Shaw is new disability minister

Former social worker Jonathan Shaw has been appointed as the new minister for disabled people, replacing Anne McGuire, who has left the government.

Shaw, who joins the Department for Work and Pensions from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, used to work as a social worker for Kent Council.

He qualified in 1990, having previously worked as a care assistant for adults with learning disabilities, and during his time at Kent he worked in child protection, fostering, adoption and leaving care services.

McGuire was appointed disability minister in May 2005. During her time in the post, the government created the Office for Disability Issues to deliver on its commitment to work towards equality for disabled by 2025. It also signed the United Nations Convention on the rights of disabled people under her watch, in March 2007, and the government has indicated that it will ratify the convention by the end of this year.

More controversially, she presided over the reform of Remploy – the government-subsidised company that both employs and finds work for disabled people – which has led to the closure of 29 of its 83 factories.

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