Services for People with Autism

Debate between David Linden and Jim Cunningham

Thursday 21st March 2019 Commons Chamber

[David Linden (Glasgow East) (SNP)]

Like other right hon. and hon. Members, I place on the record my sincere thanks to the right hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham (Dame Cheryl Gillan) and pay tribute to her work. We, like others, are thinking of her at this time. The hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle (Huw Merriman) did an excellent job of putting that on the record and should be very proud.

It is a pleasure to sum up the debate on behalf of the Scottish National party. It has been an excellent debate, despite the time pressure. It is incredibly annoying to sit through debates knowing that people are having to pack so much in, so I hope that we can have more of these debates. We have heard excellent contributions from the hon. Members for Bexhill and Battle, for Bristol West (Thangam Debbonaire), for North Cornwall (Scott Mann), for Liverpool, West Derby (Stephen Twigg), for Dudley South (Mike Wood), for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes), for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Anne-Marie Trevelyan), for Cardiff West (Kevin Brennan), for Henley (John Howell), for Strangford (Jim Shannon), for Copeland (Trudy Harrison) and for Torbay (Kevin Foster). All made very powerful speeches, either about their constituency casework or their experience with family members. I was particularly moved by the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed, who spoke about her 20-year-old son and how he is thriving. We all wish him well.

On a personal level, I want to thank a constituent of mine, Aileen Orr, who lobbied me to attend this important debate. She was right to say that, as has been backed up today, there is still not enough knowledge about autism and many people can still be quite ignorant about it, which is a point on which we must all reflect. World Autism Awareness Week is a good opportunity to give this issue the focus it deserves. Particularly in a Parliament so dominated by Brexit, such debates remind us that there are other issues that people want us to focus on, and there is a lot of unity in here today.

As Members would expect, I want to focus on the situation in Scotland. We have made good progress, but there is still a lot more work to do, as I will come on to. Last year, the Scottish Government refreshed their strategy for autism, which runs from 2018 to 2021. The review was a good opportunity to listen to people and to look at where we could improve, and I am grateful to our Mental Health Minister, Clare Haughey, who just two days ago announced a complete review of mental health legislation and autism legislation—the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed made a point about the two things being treated separately. It is good to see that recognised.

Among the themes arising from the review were the need for professionals across various areas to get more training in autism—that point has been made today—and issues of work and employment. The 16% figure that the hon. Member for Bristol West mentioned makes it clear that a lot more work needs toIt was not lined up for this debate, but on Monday I had the pleasure of visiting Aultmore Park Primary School, in my constituency, which is celebrating its 10th birthday this week. There is a language and communication resource on the school complex that works very closely with the school to make sure that the children attend from primary 1 to primary 7 and access the excellent opportunities. There was a lovely and exciting atmosphere in that school on Monday. It is such a pleasure to have it in my constituency.

On education, I know from my constituency caseload that we still have a lot more to do to support families. Like many other Members, I remain incredibly frustrated about the waiting times—in Scotland, they are often between one and two years, which is far too long—and in that regard I pay tribute to East End Carers, based in Shettleston, and the Happy Club, based in Provanhall. So often it is these voluntary charities that provide emotional and practical support for families, particularly in the period immediately after a diagnosis.

Part of the reason for the long diagnosis process is a lack of educational psychologists, which is a major issue in Scotland. There is only one university—Dundee, I think—where people can train to be educational psychologists. I encourage our Ministers north of the border to look at that.

[Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)]

Not enough is being done for schools. Teachers can study psychology. Some people teach and are also qualified psychologists. Is that not something that should be looked at?

[David Linden]

The hon. Gentleman is right to put that on the record. I am married to a primary school teacher and, although aspects of her teacher training dealt with autism, she would probably feel that she has not been given enough support. More often than not, she will be able to say, anecdotally, “This child in the class might have autism but has not had a diagnosis yet.” So he is right to put that on the record.

More often than not, a lot of housing associations do not have a proper understanding of autism. A lot of families come to me and say, “I need a house with a garden so that my child can play safely”. This chicken-and-egg situation, which I see regularly, can be quite frustrating.

I am conscious of the time—there is a heavily subscribed debate after this one—so I will round off by saying that it is of fundamental importance that autistic people and their families are understood and welcomed in their own communities and can be supported to be as independent and active as they wish to be. I thank all hon. Members who have participated in this debate. I hope that, when we debate it next year, we will be able to celebrate some progress because, if we have learned one thing today, it is that we still have a lot further to go.

Work Capability Assessments

Debate between David Linden and Jim Cunningham

Wednesday 13th December 2017 Westminster Hall

[David Linden (Glasgow East) (SNP)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered work capability assessments.

It is good to see you in the Chair, Ms McDonagh. I am really grateful for the opportunity to raise this issue in Parliament today, as flawed work capability assessments have been a major topic in my case load since my election in June this year.

May I start by thanking the many charities, organisations and individuals who have reached out to me in the run-up to this debate with an offer to share briefings and information about their experience of work capability assessments? It is only appropriate at this juncture to commend the hard-working staff in the House of Commons Library for the excellent briefing that they have supplied to all right hon. and hon. Members. I am immensely grateful to individual members of the public from across the UK who got in touch to share their own, often harrowing, experiences of undergoing assessment and the sheer distress caused to them. Time will not permit me to share every testimony, but I want to share some case studies with the House this afternoon, and I am sure that other hon. Members will wish to do the same.

From my short time as a constituency MP, it has become abundantly clear that the UK Government’s work capability assessment is not fit for purpose and requires a full, independent, root-and-branch review to ensure that it treats people with dignity and respect. As it stands, the system is failing the most vulnerable in our society and all too often plunges people into chaos and depression, and in some cases, I am afraid, to the brink of suicide.

I therefore very much welcome the decision of the Select Committee on Work and Pensions to carry out an inquiry into personal independence payment and employment and support allowance assessments. What I do not want to see, however, is a powerful report coming from the Select Committee, only for it to be ignored by the Government, as happened in late 2014 during the last inquiry. The evidence and testimony that the Committee has already received should be sounding the alarm bells at Caxton House, and that is before the Committee has even published its report.

I very much welcome the Minister to her new role. As she knows, I enjoyed a constructive working relationship with her predecessor, particularly on the campaign to end the baby benefit bar. The Minister is widely respected across the House and I have no doubt that she will be in listening mode today. I therefore hope that she will approach this sensitive topic with fresh eyes and the compassionate conservatism that we have heard so much about from the Government.

I will outline some of my major concerns about the work capability assessment process, including the number of claimants with serious health conditions or disabilities who are found fit for work or placed in the wrong ESA group because of deficiencies with the WCA descriptors or in the assessment process.

[Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)]

I think that there are two issues here. One is that private companies are not necessarily equipped to assess people. Secondly, the questionnaire form can give enough information that it does not necessitate an interview of the kind handled by private companies.

[David Linden]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that intervention, and I will come to that point in a moment.

I will talk about the difficulties faced by certain groups, in particular people with mental health conditions or learning disabilities, in navigating the WCA process; the lack of information about outcomes for individuals following fit for work determinations; and concerns about the risk of poverty and destitution as a result of incorrect decisions. I also want to touch on the relatively high success rate of appeals against ESA decisions, and the difficulties experienced by claimants seeking to challenge fit for work decisions, including the fact that ESA is not payable pending a mandatory reconsideration, meaning that the only option in the meantime is to claim jobseeker’s allowance, potentially exposing an individual to inappropriate conditionality.