Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the number of women entering the construction industry.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The £625 million Construction Skills Package investment is expected to deliver up to 60,000 additional skilled construction workers, supporting a sustainable talent pipeline across the sector. This includes increased teaching provision, improved teaching quality through ten Construction Technical Excellence Colleges (C‑TECs), teacher industry exchange programmes, and expanded on-site experience for learners. A new Foundation apprenticeship will provide a clear entry route into the sector, alongside existing apprenticeships, and supported by close collaboration with industry and targeted incentives for employers.
As part of the Construction Skills Package, we are using targeted communications campaigns to raise awareness of opportunities in construction and highlight the sector’s role in creating pathways to good jobs and progression. This includes tailored promotion of construction skills opportunities for individuals, including women, and those returning to the workforce, working closely with partners across government such as DWP and local job centres.
The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) supports a range of initiatives designed to encourage more women into construction careers, including Onsite Experience hubs, SkillBuild, Go Construct and Women into Home Building. These programmes help raise awareness of opportunities in the sector, support entry into training and employment, and widen the pipeline of talent available to employers.
Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the attack on Nishat Ayman in the Department for Work and Pensions building at Caxton House on 24 March, what steps they are taking to prevent attacks against staff within government buildings.
Answered by Lord Henley
DWP treats the safety of individuals on its premises as paramount and as such has comprehensive physical and personnel security, as well as staff safety policies and procedures in place. Site security is reviewed and tested on a regular basis to help protect staff, buildings and assets from attack or compromise.
Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to ensure that organisations in the private sector employ people with autism.
Answered by Baroness Altmann
The Government is acting to raise awareness regarding employment of people with autism and to support people on the autism spectrum to take up employment. For example,
The Government’s Disability Confident campaign works with employers at a national and local level to help them to understand the benefits of employing disabled people, and promote good practice in recruitment and employment of disabled people, including people with autism.
DWP has worked in close partnership with the Hidden Impairment National Group (HING), a national network of disabled people, medical professionals/ academics and disability specific organisations to produce an ‘Uncovering Hidden Impairments’ toolkit. This resource supports organisations in both the private and public sectors to confidently recruit and retain talented individuals with hidden impairment conditions.
The Department for Education is funding Ambitious about Autism (2015-16) to explore innovative ways of supporting young people with Autism to make the transition from school to further education, and the Autism Education Trust (2015-16) to promote the availability of training on Autism to schools, early years and further education staff, and to revise national standards for Autism provision and a competency framework for those who work with children with Autism.
Government has supported the development by NIACE of an employer toolkit that includes information to help employers to understand the benefits of employing apprentices with disabilities, and to access support.
We are currently working with Autism charities to build an autism network across DWP Jobcentre Plus Offices to ensure we can provide the best possible service to those with autism.
We have worked with Community Service Volunteers to introduce the Job-Shadowing Work Placement Initiative for young disabled people. The first tranche was very successful with 65% of young people having autistic spectrum conditions
The Government’s Autism Strategy, and the updated Statutory Guidance published in March 2015, sets out in detail how Government will support the autism agenda nationally.
Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what efforts they are making to raise awareness of employing people with autism.
Answered by Baroness Altmann
The Government is acting to raise awareness regarding employment of people with autism and to support people on the autism spectrum to take up employment. For example,
The Government’s Disability Confident campaign works with employers at a national and local level to help them to understand the benefits of employing disabled people, and promote good practice in recruitment and employment of disabled people, including people with autism.
DWP has worked in close partnership with the Hidden Impairment National Group (HING), a national network of disabled people, medical professionals/ academics and disability specific organisations to produce an ‘Uncovering Hidden Impairments’ toolkit. This resource supports organisations in both the private and public sectors to confidently recruit and retain talented individuals with hidden impairment conditions.
The Department for Education is funding Ambitious about Autism (2015-16) to explore innovative ways of supporting young people with Autism to make the transition from school to further education, and the Autism Education Trust (2015-16) to promote the availability of training on Autism to schools, early years and further education staff, and to revise national standards for Autism provision and a competency framework for those who work with children with Autism.
Government has supported the development by NIACE of an employer toolkit that includes information to help employers to understand the benefits of employing apprentices with disabilities, and to access support.
We are currently working with Autism charities to build an autism network across DWP Jobcentre Plus Offices to ensure we can provide the best possible service to those with autism.
We have worked with Community Service Volunteers to introduce the Job-Shadowing Work Placement Initiative for young disabled people. The first tranche was very successful with 65% of young people having autistic spectrum conditions
The Government’s Autism Strategy, and the updated Statutory Guidance published in March 2015, sets out in detail how Government will support the autism agenda nationally.
Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure the availability of Access to Work grants for those who especially need them to start working.
Answered by Baroness Altmann
Access to Work grants are available for those who meet the eligibility criteria for the scheme including those who are about to start working. Access to Work has specialist teams to ensure more complicated cases are processed as quickly as possible and fast track applications for those who know their circumstances or have a prior assessment enabling support to be put in place quickly.
Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Freud on 14 May (WA 522), why they do not intend to ring-fence monies identified by the Independent Living Fund as needed to meet the critical and substantial needs of recipients.
Answered by Lord Freud
The Government's position on how local authorities manage their finances is clear; local authorities need to be allowed to meet their statutory responsibilities in a flexible and responsive way and the ring-fencing of funding prevents this. Allowing local authorities the flexibility to manage their budgets locally means they can respond to local needs and priorities to deliver more efficient services and better outcomes.
Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Freud on 11 June (WA 7), how many people in receipt of Independent Living Fund payments have autism as their main condition.
Answered by Lord Freud
The number of Independent Living Fund users recorded as having autism, Asperger's syndrome or a learning disability with autism as their main condition is currently 332.
Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people with autismspectrum disorder currently receive support under the Independent Living Fund.
Answered by Lord Freud
It is not possible to calculate this because the Independent Living Fund's systems categorise its users by their main condition only; it is not known therefore how many users may have an autism spectrum disorder in addition to the main disability or health condition recorded.