Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of Jobcentre Plus staff have received training on the communication needs of autistic people.

The DWP is committed to providing the best possible support for all customers to meet their individual circumstances.

Since the national roll-out of Universal Credit (2016) all DWP Work Coaches undergo a comprehensive learning journey. The learning provides staff with the knowledge and skills to enable them to treat each customer as an individual regardless of additional or complex needs.

In addition to this, DWP offer a learning product specific to autistic awareness, which is available to all work coaches on an ‘at point of need’ basis. The product includes:

• adapt how you communicate verbally
• adapt your body language
• show empathy
• adapt your environment

We do not keep information on how many work coaches have used this particular product.