Neurodivergent People: Employment Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Work and Pensions
Clive Jones
Main Page: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)Department Debates - View all Clive Jones's debates with the Department for Work and Pensions
(1 day, 21 hours ago)
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Charlotte Cane
I agree with my hon. Friend that recognising neurodivergence in school and giving support at an early stage is incredibly important. As I said, I want to make the distinction and recognise that neurodivergent people and those with learning disabilities are distinguishable groups, both of which I will speak about.
Over the past year, I have visited many fantastic businesses across my constituency and have been struck by how many are going above and beyond to forge pathways into the world of work for people with learning disabilities. I want to share some of their success stories today.
Clive Jones (Wokingham) (LD)
I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. In Wokingham, the Kimel café does a fantastic job taking on neurodivergent youngsters, giving them key skills and including them in our community. Does my hon. Friend agree that more businesses should employ neurodiverse people? Does she also agree that the Government must do more to support excellent businesses that support neurodiverse people, like the Kimel café?
Charlotte Cane
I do agree and will speak about that.
Local businesses have described employing people with learning disabilities to me as like a game of bureaucratic hopscotch. They can see the end goal but they need to hop from square to square, assessment to assessment, with a lack of resources to dedicate to training staff. Sadly, that is borne out in the data. Under 30% of people with severe or specific learning difficulties were in employment in 2023-24, compared with more than 82% of non-disabled people. Those figures are bad enough in isolation, but just 65% of employees with severe or specific learning difficulties remain in employment for at least a year.