Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department is taking steps to support young people with autism into work.

Employment support is a transferred matter in Northern Ireland. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is committed to supporting young people with learning disabilities and/or autism move closer to the labour market or into work, and we have a number of initiatives to support people with Autism through Jobcentres across Great Britain.

The DWP Youth Offer provides intensive support through the Youth Employment Programme, Youth Employability Coaches for young people with additional barriers to work, and Youth hubs. Our Work Coaches and Youth Employability Coaches are supported by Disability Employment Advisers (DEAs) who offer advice and expertise on how best to help disabled people into work.

DWP has been working with the National Autistic Society to design and develop a service delivery framework for people with Autism. The service delivery framework aims to transform the service available to jobseekers on the autism spectrum. This trial is now complete with all 15 sites having passed their accreditation test. We are considering how best to take the Jobcentre Plus Autism Accreditation forward.

For those learning disabled and autistic people who do find themselves excluded from the workplace, starting this Autumn, DWP will invest £7.2 million in Local Supported Employment services, working with around 20 Local Authorities to enable more social care users with a learning disability and autistic social care users to access the support needed to help them get into work and remain in employment.

Furthermore, Young people with Autism can access further employment support through Jobcentres including priority access to the Work and Health Programme in England and Wales, for people with health conditions, and Intensive Personalised Employment Support provision across the UK, which provides highly personalised packages of employment support for disabled people and people with health conditions who require specialist support to achieve sustained employment. Access to Work is also available, which is a demand-led discretionary grant scheme that provides funding for the extra disability-related costs people have when starting work or maintaining employment.

Additionally, Supported Internships are aimed at young people with a learning disability or autism who have an Education, Health, and Care (EHC) plan. Supported internships usually last for 12 months and provide support from a specialist job coach. Whilst the Department for Education lead on this in England, the Department for Work and Pensions provides support through Access to Work where needed.