Queen’s Speech

Lord Touhig Excerpts

Monday 17th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Touhig (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I pay tribute to my noble friend Lord Coaker and the noble Lord, Lord Morse, for two excellent maiden speeches. I have known my noble friend Lord Coaker for many years, and we collaborated in recent times as members of the Council of Europe. I have also known the noble Lord, Lord Morse, for many years, and, when I served on the Public Accounts Committee in the other place, I greatly admired his leadership of the NAO.

Some years ago, when I was MP for Islwyn, I became the president of a charity called Access, working to support disabled people and their families in the south Wales valleys. I learned a lot about our disabled fellow citizens. Most strikingly, one Saturday, the group invited two able-bodied supporters to sit in wheelchairs and invited me to push one of them up and down Blackwood high street.

Although I did not realise it at the start, they were educating me. As I walked up and down and people stopped me to talk, I immediately sensed that, for some—perhaps too many—there was unease about the person in the wheelchair. Not one person who stopped and spoke to me spoke to the person in the wheelchair. It then struck me: had I also been like that in former times? Had I passed and ignored wheelchair-bound people? I tell the story because, in today’s Britain, we are told that the new mantra is “levelling up”—but our disabled fellow citizens would say, “Level up by all means, but first notice me. Don’t ignore me. I have the same rights as you; I have human rights”.

Like many colleagues, I support the Disabled Children’s Partnership, a coalition of some 80 charities. Its January survey, The Longest Lockdown, revealed that

“disabled children are not receiving support for their disability or medical condition via health services or their school placement. Parents report a detrimental impact on their child’s disability”

and reduced levels of informal and formal support. Families say that delays to routine health appointments had a “negative impact” on their child’s condition, causing anxiety, behavioural problems, sleep loss, loneliness and depression.

Its March survey, The Loneliest Lockdown, focused on the impact that Covid had had on the mental health and well-being of disabled children and their parents and siblings. It revealed that disabled children endured “serious mental health issues” during lockdown and that a high proportion of families were socially isolated—almost 50% of disabled children had not seen a friend for a month, either online or in person.

To be fair, the Government advised that service providers should continue to deliver and prioritise different support, such as respite care and therapies. However, advising services to continue does not mean that families get them. The reality is that parents are consistently saying that these services are not reaching them.

On mental health, the Government have recently announced a £79 million package of mental health support but have not allocated any of it specifically for disabled children and their families, despite the over-whelming evidence that they have felt a disproportionate impact from Covid and therefore require tailored interventions. It begs the question of why. Perhaps the Minister can tell us.

This brings me to the promised national disability strategy. In the 2019 manifesto, and highlighted in the previous Queen’s Speech, the Government promised a national disability strategy. They promised to transform the lives of disabled people, ensuring that they have access to opportunities and can achieve their potential. They promised that it will be ambitious, supporting disabled people in all aspects and phases of their lives. They promised to publish the strategy in 2020. Alas, it was delayed, we were told, due to coronavirus.

We are now told that the Government will publish the strategy this spring. Time is running out, and I echo my noble friend Lady Sherlock in asking: can the Minister tell us when the strategy will be published? Can he assuage our fears that it will have insufficient focus on children? It is vital that it addresses the issues faced by disabled children and their families. Even before the pandemic, the system was in crisis, with people having great difficulties. Too often, families can get the support that they need only once they get to a crisis point. It is important that the strategy provides great support for children and their families, but it is time that we had some answers. Disabled children and their families are not second-class citizens. They deserve better, and they deserve some answers now.

Inclusive Society

Lord Touhig Excerpts

Wednesday 14th April 2021 Grand Committee

[Lord Touhig (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lady Lister on the powerful and comprehensive way in which she introduced this debate. I declare an interest as a vice-president of the National Autistic Society. I begin by paying tribute to a good friend, Dame Cheryl Gillan, who died last week. Cheryl was chair of the All-Party Group on Autism, the pioneer of legislation on autism and the person who persuaded the Council of Europe to investigate the impact of autism on families across our continent. We owe her a great debt.

What is an inclusive society? In an excellent Library paper, we are reminded that at the World Summit for Social Development it was defined as “society for all”, a point made by my noble friend Lady Ritchie, but if you are autistic the world does not seem that inclusive. Awareness of autism and understanding autism are not the same thing. Poor public understanding has profound consequences for autistic people. Polling carried out by the National Autistic Society shows that while 99% of people know about autism, just 16% of autistic people feel that the public understand what it means to be autistic. Some 80 out of every 100 autistic people have felt socially isolated because of a lack of public understanding. However, not all is despair. The Government will publish their autism strategy in May and so much hope is being invested in this. I hope that the strategy commits to creating and properly funding a long-term national autism understanding campaign, aimed at shifting the attitudes and behaviour of millions of people.

I will concentrate my remarks today on two aspects of living with autism: employment and social care. Not all autistic people will be able to work, but three-quarters of unemployed autistic people want to do so. Despite this, the Office for National Statistics report shows that 22% of autistic adults are not in employment of any kind. Sixty Members of our House signed up to take part in this debate. If we were all autistic, just 13 of us would ever have had a job in our life. The National Autistic Society’s research has uncovered some of the barriers to getting into employment. Only four in every 100 autistic adults said Jobcentre Plus staff have a good understanding of autism. It is vital that staff have the knowledge and understanding required adequately to support autistic jobseekers. Some 40% of autistic adults need employment support, but just 12% receive it. What is more, most employers have a poor understanding of autism and the support that autistic people will need. This lack of understanding was identified as one of the key barriers to closing the employment gap. Many employers lack the confidence to employ autistic people, believing that an autistic person would require too much support.

It is vital that we see clear actions in the forthcoming autism strategy and the national disability strategy on what the Government plan to do close the autism employment gap, especially following the Covid pandemic. For many autistic people, social care is the difference between being able to leave the house or not, being able to wash, dress and eat or not and being able work or not. Prior to the Covid outbreak, the provision of basic care for autistic people was already dangerously low, but the virus has reduced care provision further, leaving many parents and carers feeling abandoned. Seven out of 10 autistic adults are living without the support they need. One in five family members have reduced their work due to caring responsibilities for their youngsters. The Covid outbreak has uncovered fundamental problems with the social care system and highlighted the significance of its underfunding. Years of underfunding have left councils and providers struggling without the resources they need. The Care and Support Alliance is calling for immediate and sufficient funding to stabilise the social care system to ensure that it does not collapse in the worst affected areas. Looking to the future, we need the Government to put forward a long-term plan for social care that creates a fair, effective and sustainable care system for autistic people and their carers. That would be a real step towards creating an inclusive society for all.