Neurodivergent People: Employment

Debate between Charlotte Cane and Rachel Gilmour

Tuesday 9th September 2025 Westminster Hall

[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.

[Rachel Gilmour (Tiverton and Minehead) (LD)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that Foxes hotel in my constituency of Minehead is a trailblazer? It is the UK’s only fully operating training hotel for young people with learning disabilities, many of whom have Down’s syndrome. It has shown that structured on-the-job training, dedicated mentorship and clear progression pathways not only transform individual lives but drive outstanding business outcomes. It has been described as the Oxbridge of training for such young people.

[Charlotte Cane]

It is great to hear that example. One thing I am calling for is proper structured apprenticeships.

Climate and Nature Bill

Debate between Charlotte Cane and Rachel Gilmour

2nd reading
Friday 24th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Charlotte Cane (Ely and East Cambridgeshire) (LD)]

I draw attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests: I am an unpaid director of Reach community solar farm. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for South Cotswolds (Dr Savage) on bringing this important Bill to the House, and on all the negotiations she has had to try to secure cross-party agreement on it.

I started campaigning on the environment quite a long time ago. My main concerns then were that whales were at risk of becoming extinct and we had a hole in the ozone layer. The international community came together and we now see that whale populations are increasing and the blue whale has been brought back from the brink of extinction. We also phased out chlorofluorocarbons and the ozone layer is repairing. So when we work together, we can achieve great things. I have been hugely impressed and encouraged by the cross-party agreement—with one or two exceptions—on the real need to move forward. I hope that we will not throw this away at the last minute. We have a way forward that would address a lot of these things.

We now know that our challenges are far greater and that we need to worry not just about other species’ survival, but about the survival of our own species. More frequent and damaging wildfires and floods are taking human lives as well as destroying property, farms and wildlife. In my constituency of Ely and East Cambridgeshire, farmers are having to contend with rapidly changing seasons.

[Rachel Gilmour]

Does my hon. Friend agree that the Bill strives for that adaptation in farming, recognising the urgent need to develop agricultural resilience and sustainable farming practice, and actually offers true financial support, which would help our farmers?