Think Work First: The Transition from Education to Work for Young Disabled People (Public Services Committee Report)

Lord Mott Excerpts

Tuesday 4th November 2025 Grand Committee

[Lord Mott (Con)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, who has been incredibly kind and generous to me since I first joined the Public Services Select Committee. I am sorry that he will be leaving us very shortly. I also pay tribute to and thank the noble Baroness, Lady Morris of Yardley, for excellently chairing the committee, leading to the report today. I echo the comments of many noble Lords in thanking the excellent team who provide the support that we require.

The gap in employment between disabled and non-disabled people had been narrowing for a number of years, at least until the Covid-19 pandemic. But since then, progress has stalled. According to the latest estimates, just over half of working-age disabled people are employed, compared to more than four in five non-disabled people. Tackling this gap is, of course, important from a financial standpoint, not least given the significant increase in the costs of working-age welfare and the broad consensus across the political divide of the need to reduce this. Crucially, tackling this gap for those who can work and want to work is far more important on a human level.

There will always be some people unable to work due to disability and they must get the full support that they require. As disabled people transition from education, we must do everything we can to help them find suitable and fulfilling jobs. Making use of all the talent we have in this country means more people with the security of work and with the independence, improved well-being and social inclusion that it brings.

It is timely for the Public Services Committee, of which I am a member, to have undertaken this inquiry: Think Work First: the Transition from Education to Work for Young Disabled People. The committee’s extensive report makes over 30 recommendations, ranging from education and employment services to workplace rights and support to employers. I hope that these will provide much food for thought for the department.

In my contribution today, I want to focus on how we can improve the bridge that links education and employment. This is where there are clear examples of things working well and where progress should be sustained. Getting real, hands-on experience is vital for anyone getting into the workplace, disabled or not. I saw this not only as an apprentice myself but during my time as chief executive of the Conservative Party, where I was delighted to help establish a paid internship scheme with the Patchwork Foundation, for which I remain a mentor, to help young people from disadvantaged and minority communities get experience working in politics.

We know that this type of experience is particularly valuable for disabled people moving into the workplace. If a young disabled person can get a supported internship, an accessible apprenticeship or quality work experience, they are more likely to go on to fulfilling work. Supported internships provide a structured, work-based study programme for 16 to 24 year-olds with special educational needs and disabilities who have an education, health and care plan.

I was delighted that the previous Government made a commitment to double the number of supported internships. We saw evidence of their particular success in the NHS, with 68 hospitals hosting supported internships and strong evidence that these often end with the NHS employer offering the interns full-time, permanent contracts. I urge the Minister to commit today to building on the previous Government’s commitments here and to take the committee’s recommendation to

“increase the number of supported internships, and … introduce ambitious, time-bound rolling targets for this”.

I agree that there are many opportunities in the public sector for such an increase, but the Government should also seek suitable and willing private sector partners.

Moving on, I support the efforts being made to help more disabled young people into suitable apprenticeships and I would be keen to hear from the Minister what plans the Government have to communicate the new criteria, promote apprenticeships to employers and training providers and incentivise employers to take on disabled apprentices, in line with the committee’s recommendations.

Finally, the committee is right to highlight the value of supported employment. The universal support programme, announced by the last Conservative Government, was allocated an initial £53 million to help 25,000 out of work, long-term sick and disabled people who face barriers to employment, with an ambition to go much further, with larger numbers of people helped, by providing sustained, wraparound help for up to 12 months for both the participant and their employer to help them stay in work.

The programme was welcomed and praised. Scope called it “good news” and said that it was something that it had been “calling for over many years”. But, as the report notes, there have been concerns within the sector that the current Government are not committed to the programme. Will the Minister today take the opportunity to allay these concerns and confirm that the Government remain fully committed to rolling out the programme? Specifically, I hope they will take forward the recommendations to

“set out clear timelines and targets for improving the regional and national availability of Universal Support, as well as metrics focused on employment outcomes for the disabled people who participate in supported employment programmes”.

Will more be done to link the universal support offer to the supported internships that I spoke to earlier?

Helping more people to find the security and fulfilment of work has always been at the heart of my politics. This should apply to everyone but, sadly, too many disabled people are still written off. We need to build on the progress already made, reverse the post-pandemic decline in progress and, in doing so, remember the sentiment of this report: Think Work First.