King’s Speech (4th Day)

Debate between Lord Touhig and Baroness Kramer

Monday 22nd July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Touhig (Lab)]

My Lords, I join colleagues in the House in congratulating my noble friend Lord Vallance on his maiden speech. I felt after listening to him that this is a Minister who will be happy engaging with Members of this House; we welcome that. I also congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Petitgas, on a lively and fresh contribution. We look forward to many more from him in the months to come. I also look forward to the winding-up speech of my noble friend Lord Livermore. He and I go back a long way, to a time when we were working with Gordon Brown in the early days of the Labour Government in 1997.

I take this opportunity to raise the matter of support to help young people with learning disabilities and autism gain employment; the noble Lords, Lord Shinkwin and Lord Holmes, have already touched on these matters. If we are to meet the Government’s ambition to grow our economy, we can ill afford to ignore the skills and talents of tens of thousands of our fellow citizens who cannot get a job because they have a learning disability.

Seven out of 10 people of working age who have a learning disability are unemployed—denied the opportunity of an independent life and the sense of life-fulfilling achievement that work brings. Businesses across Britain are denied the benefit, enthusiasm, skills and commitment of this group. More than that, helping them find work reduces a cost to the Exchequer.

The Fair Shot café in Covent Garden, which operates a training scheme exclusively employing people with learning disabilities and autism, said in an impact report that its programme had saved the taxpayer £210,000 in benefits.

[Baroness Kramer (LD)]

Good coffee too.

[Lord Touhig (Lab)]

Yes, there is very good coffee there too.

For years, Governments have sought to reduce the disability employment gap. In 2017 the last Government set the goal of helping 1 million disabled people into work by 2027. To be fair, there has been progress—but it is not enough. I desperately hope that this Labour Government will do two things: first, launch a major drive to encourage employers to offer jobs to people with learning disabilities and autism. There are many good examples of businesses that have done this, and we need them to provide mentors to encourage others.

A good start would be to look at a recent report on employment with autism written by Sir Robert Buckland, who as an MP chaired the All-Party Group on Autism. One of Robert’s key recommendations was explained under the heading “changing employer behaviour”.

I have spoken to many businesspeople. In almost every case there is a willingness to employ a person with learning disabilities, but also a reluctance: how will my staff cope working with a person with learning disabilities? What if they do not fit in? What support do I have to provide to them? Is there any financial support to employ a person with learning disabilities? Are there any examples of where employing a person with learning disabilities has worked out? These are perfectly reasonable questions. I urge His Majesty’s Government to launch a programme of recruiting mentors who have run businesses that have employed people with learning disabilities and autism. With their co-operation and support, I am sure we will persuade more businesses to do the same and help grow the economy—a key objective of the Government.

Secondly, we need to improve the operation of the Access to Work fund. This fund helps people with learning disabilities and autism get the right support to get into work, but its budget has been underspent in three years out of the last five. The Government need to work closely with supported employment providers. In partnership with employers, schools and colleges, they help to create supported internships. A supported internship is often the catalyst that gets a person with learning disabilities into work. It provides the opportunity and support to turn their potential into practical work skills that help them to start a career and further develop their social, emotional and self-advocacy skills. Access to Work plays a vital role in facilitating these internships. Its funding is a key part of the service offered by supported employment providers.

However, employment support providers are facing considerable difficulties with the process. While initial stages work well, including planning for funding approvals, they experience considerable delays when other things are to be processed. In addition, they are facing significant issues when they come to processing claims and receiving funding. There are issues about basic things such as timesheet requirements and concerning the receipt of paperwork. I could go on. I have to say that Access to Work is also a poor communicator with the people it is supposed to be helping. Should he wish, I can give my noble friend the Minister more information, but it would take up too much time for me to do that now.

We need a nationwide scheme to make real progress here—a national strategy with clear and achievable objectives. That objective can be summed in one sentence: to change employer behaviour. That would do more than anything to reduce the disability employment gap, and if we do that we will grow the economy.

Parliamentary Estate: Electric Vehicle Charging Points

Debate between Lord Touhig and Baroness Kramer

Wednesday 9th February 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Touhig (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, for his earlier comments about these matters and the discussions we have had. Yes, we have looked at Chancellor’s Court. The standard office electrical circuits like the one in Chancellor’s Court are not designed to provide the level of power continually that we need for EVCs. Chancellor’s Court is also used, of course, for building projects and storing project cabins and machinery. I can tell the noble Lord that in the continuing review we are not going to look at Chancellor’s Court as a long-term alternative; rather we will look at the Peers’ car park and Royal Court.

[Baroness Kramer (LD)]

My Lords, the noble Lords, Lord Touhig and Lord Borwick, and two of the staff were kind enough to take a walk around with me to look at various options that had not been considered. I am saddened that, for example, Chancellor’s Court has been excluded, apparently because it would be inconvenient for contractors who might need to reconfigure some future plans they have for some temporary cabins. We found many a location where this could be done appropriately and cheaply to bring in the facility in that £50,000 range. May I just say that the contractors do not run this House? The issues of net zero are far more significant and I wonder whether the noble Lord, Lord Touhig, could take that back to the staff and ask them to approach the problem as a way to enable us to have the facility and not to think through what every obstruction might be, even if hypothetical.

[Lord Touhig (Lab)]

At the outset, I thank the noble Baroness and the noble Lord, Lord Borwick, for walking the estate with me and our technical people, looking at their ideas and trying to find solutions. I am pleased that one of the solutions that we had been discounting, about plugging into lamp posts, now has proper, active consideration as a result of their efforts. Chancellor’s Court concerns me, because it is the access through which school parties come to visit. It is not the best access for vehicles. Royal Court, on the other hand, has sufficient electricity supply; it is easy to access and it has plenty of parking space. I will not discount what the noble Baroness says. I will have another look at it, but I think that we perhaps have better options and I hope that the Committee will consider them as well.

Equality Act 2010: Wheelchair Users

Debate between Lord Touhig and Baroness Kramer

Tuesday 17th March 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Kramer]

My Lords, the assumption is that charging is a violation of the broad anti-discrimination clauses of the Equality Act because one cannot discriminate and charge additional amounts for services provided to disabled people. In terms of ramps and the other issues that the noble Baroness describes, there are many problems for wheelchair users in accessing taxis and private hire vehicles. Again, a more extensive piece of legislation may be required to deal with this broader range of issues, which we are increasingly aware of.

[Lord Touhig (Lab)]

My Lords, no one who is disabled should be penalised because of their disability. Recognising this in May last year, the Law Commission’s review recommended that all taxi drivers should receive disability awareness training. Do the Government accept this recommendation and, if they do, when will it be implemented?

[Baroness Kramer]

The Government are still working on their response to the extensive report from the Law Commission and that is one of the recommendations that must be addressed in the reply. I remind the House that there will be post-legislative scrutiny in the next Session of the disability provisions in the Equality Act. There are several ways of tackling these problems.

Disabled People: Blue Badges

Debate between Lord Touhig and Baroness Kramer

Wednesday 26th March 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Touhig]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to ensure that people whose mobility is not impaired solely by physical disability, and their carers, will continue to have access to blue badges for their vehicles when they need them following the introduction of the Personal Independence Payment to replace Disability Living Allowance.

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Baroness Kramer) (LD)]

My Lords, people who receive a personal independence payment because they cannot walk further than 50 metres will automatically be eligible for a blue badge. However, people who do not meet this criterion may still apply directly to their local authority to see whether they meet any of the other eligibility criteria. Whatever their disability, they may be eligible if it causes very considerable difficulty in walking.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Touhig (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as vice-president of the National Autistic Society. People with autism are having great difficulties in obtaining blue badges as a result of changes to the eligibility criteria associated with the personal independence payment. Will the Minister look at the guidance given to local councils on blue badges, so that we can ensure that people with cognitive impairments can park near the services that they need? Will she also agree to meet representatives of the National Autistic Society, other noble Lords and me, so that we can further this discussion?

[Baroness Kramer]

My Lords, I say to the noble Lord, Lord Touhig, that I would be very pleased to meet, so we will make sure that that goes into the diary. Your Lordships will be aware that, as the DWP is reassessing DLA claimants for the new PIP benefit, those who do not qualify under the relevant PIP can retain their existing blue badge until it expires so that there is a time period to get into the new programme by applying to the local authority. The department is clarifying its guidance, which is being written at the moment, to make it clear to local authorities that any permanent disability can be physical or otherwise. In other words, it need not be physical. The test is that it causes very considerable difficulty in walking; that is the qualification for a blue badge.