22/02/2018 House of Commons

supporting the autonomy of the

Kurdish region is important. But so

is supporting the right of the Iraqi

government to territorial integrity.

We now come to the second select

committee statement. He will speak

on this subject on this subject

during which are no interventions

will be taken. I will then call

members to ask questions in the

usual way. I called the chair of the

Justice committee.

Thank you very

much, Deputy Speaker. This report

results from what was described by

Her Majesty 's Chief Inspector of

prisons as one of the worst

inspection reports of a prison he

had ever seen. It is to meet the

worst inspection report that our

committee had ever seen, and it is

because of the gravity of that

situation that we took the unique

step of holding a specific evidence

session into that individual

inquiry. Not only do it highlight

conditions which the Chief inspector

describes as squalid as Liverpool

prison, and a history of

deterioration over a two-year

period, and a history of failure of

management at a local national and

regional level over a period of

time, but also we believe it

highlights a number of systemic

problems which need to be addressed

by the Ministry and Her Majesty 's

prison and probation service. And

also, highlights the need for

approaching a fresh way in which we

deal with Her Majesty 's of prisons

is self. May I pay tribute to my

colleagues on the select committee,

a number of whom are present today,

for their work on this report? And I

may also welcome to his place my

Hons friend the Minister, and I

appreciate that he came and gave

evidence to our inquiry so early on

in his appointment to the posting

which he now serves. Can I briefly

outline the report against that

grave background? This was a

situation where Liverpool prison was

inspected in 2015. It was failing

them, it was a re-inspected again in

2017, it had got worse. Some of the

conditions, a man with a mental

health problems in a cell that was

not fit the habitation, and that

there was a serious maintenance

backlog, were in fact the

maintenance backlog had doubled from

1000 - 2000 over that period where

its marking the guess the various

tests have gone backwards indicate

not only was there a gross failure

of management locally and of

oversight at a regional and national

level, but also that the detailed

recommendations of Her Majesty 's

Inspectorate made in 2015 had not

properly been addressed, the first

systemic matter that we addressed.

It's pretty clear that the national

leadership was not the lurch to the

situation as to what was happening

on the ground. -- was not alert. The

head of the prison service told us

he had been informed by the local

management that some 60% of the

recommendations in 2015 were on

track to be met. That was wrong. In

fact, only 25% were met, 60% were

not met. The leadership nationally

was out of touch. When asked what

was the role for the deputy Minister

for corrections, who is supposed to

have oversight for 12 prisons in

that region, clearly there was

failure in communication but a

breakdown in the way the system

operates there. Secondly this is not

unique. The chief Inspectorate

indicated to us this is a regular

occurrence, that recommendations by

the Inspectorate are not acted upon.

The Minister rightly says to us that

much greater use should be made of

the Inspectorate's recommendations

to drive changes in behaviour, he is

right. We therefore recommend two

specific matters to make greater use

of that. Firstly at the moment, the

prison service marks its own

homework, that is not satisfactory

and can breed complacency. We

recommend the Inspectorate of

prisons can be given an additional

resource to follow up on the

implementation of their

recommendations and hold the prisons

to account. This is not a large sum

in the overall scheme of things,

perhaps one inspection team should

be sufficient to do that task and

the overall saving will be offset.

Secondly, ministers should take

personal responsibility for seeing

the inspection reports should be

acted upon and accounts to the House

for that perhaps through a letter to

the Justice select committee. The

first of our practical

recommendations which we believe

will offer a way forward. Secondly,

there is the whole question of the

oversight itself. Given that were

these failings, we believe that

greater work should be done on

ensuring transparency and

accountability of the above

establishment teams within the

Department. Thirdly, there was a

clear problem with the facilities

management contract. Not only had

the backlog got worse, it's pretty

clear that the basic issues which

should be picked up in the contract

were not done so. The fact we had

rats and cockroaches infest it

indicates the level of the problem.

We are not satisfied with the

explanations given for the failures

in that contract and we believe

there is need for greater

transparency. So, we recommend that

a major contracts, a national

contract, will be subject to a

public framework outlining the

expectations, performance of

penalties levies against the

providers of failure and if there

are penalties, they should frankly

be a system of naming and shaming

and a public notification of were

failures occur and how much penalty

is levied as a percentage of the

contract against the provider.

That's the point of outsourcing, to

drive changes in behaviour but we

need transparency and openness to do

that. We also noted that part of the

problem derives from persistent

overcrowding. Liverpool prison was

not understaffed, it was up to

establishment but it was nonetheless

pressed for numbers. So we recommend

the ministry and prison service

published a plan to resolve the

problem of persistent overcrowding

of the estate. The new governess for

Liverpool was clearly doing a

difficult job under difficult

circumstances but we need an overall

plan to deliver on overcrowding and

must aim to reduce the prison

population and or increase safe

capacity. Can't have it both ways.

We were also concerned with the poor

situation with health care

discovered at that stage. We were

glad to see commitments from the

prison services and NHS England

publish a partnership agreement as

to how they work together. The last

partnership however it expired in

April 2017 and a new one will not be

in place until 2018. A one-year gap

is not satisfactory and we need to

have steps taken to ensure that does

not happen again. And finally, we

need to have a commitment there to

make sure there is decent health

care. It was explained to us because

of the overcrowding and the nature

of the regime, frequently prisoners

could not be brought to health care

appointments from their cells. We

need a better approach to that.

Those are the principal

recommendations of our report which

I commence to the House. At the end

of the day, the decency of a society

is judged by the way in which it

treats those who offend against it

as much as the way it treats those

who do well by it. Liverpool failed

in that regard. We did not House

prisoners in the decent conditions

that boasts, humanity and our

international and domestic legal

obligations order that we should.

That failure cannot be allowed to

happen again. Making greater use of

the Inspectorate and its tools and

adopting our recommendations will I

hope be a constructive way forward

to assist the ministry in what I

entirely believe is his intention,

to get the basics right and

improving the prison service. In

that spirit, we put the report

before the House and commend it to

him.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Can I

welcome the committee report and

thank the chair of the select

committee for his quick decision to

hold an evident session on HM

peelable? I -- HMP Liverpool. I

commend his statements to hold this

to a camp in prisons fail. We lost

another life in prison this week,

Anthony Payne suffered with mental

health problems and died in his cell

on Monday. The report does not

mention in detail the failure to

invest in infrastructure, renovate

wings or loss and replacement of

prison officer numbers. And

critically, resources. Having seen

the prison with my own eyes, there

is no doubt these are basic but

expensive requirements. In a written

answer to me, the Minister says

there is no plan to publish the cost

or programme of urgent works at HMP

Liverpool. Will he agree with me

that is a vital we now have

transparency across our prison

network and the improvements that

are necessary, if we are to see a

real change?

I'm grateful to the

Gentleman, I know he knows Liverpool

Wharton Jail, as often called

locally, very well. I entirely

understand the point of his remarks

and I hope the ministry will reflect

upon that. The whole thrust of our

report is to say we need to shine

the light on transparency and

publicity on these matters. We've

also in a separate piece of work

have in hand and enquiry into the

shape of the prison population by

2020 and part of that is again

dealing with overcrowding. Our

recommendation is part of that,

getting the fabric right is

necessary, Wharton Jail, Liverpool

prison is one of the old Victorian

prisons and there is a real need for

work done there. If we are

publishing the public framework

arena on facilities maintenance, I

don't see why we should be able to

have similar publicity about the

capital works.

Thank you, deputy

Speaker. This is also a historic

opportunity. It's almost the first

time in more than 200 years of our

prison service in which we have had

an individual prison to base it on

the floor of the House. I'd like to

pay to reach to the Justice select

committee to bring this forward, the

situation in Liverpool prison was

genuinely shocking. It is very

disturbing and it's unbelievably

important that select committees,

inspectors, members of Parliament

hold us accountable for prisons.

These are closed communities, often

hidden away from the public. Often

in many areas, they can be forgotten

and without this scrutiny, standards

can drop and standards dropped very

seriously in the Liverpool prison.

The condition in itself is

unacceptable, the conditions with

which prisoners were treated was

unacceptable, the lack of purposeful

activity was unacceptable. We are

now addressing this very hard and

quickly, but there is still huge

lessons to be learned through the

system. I'd like to pay tribute to

the new governor. So, the new

governor has come in, she has taken

ourselves out of commission and is

very clear both that she has cleaned

the prison but also that her

objective over the next six months

is to get those cells into a smart,

good condition. We now have the

money in place to put new windows in

place and she is very focused on

making sure that the education and

employment activity is good. But

more generally, there are lessons

here right the way through the

prison system. We need to get the

basics right, there is no point

talking about rehabilitation or

dealing with reoffending and less we

have clean, decent safe spaces for

all prisoners. So, we want our

prisons to be smart and well

functioning. We're bringing in over

2000 more prison officers and that

will relieve some of the prison

estate pressures. But these are new

prison officers, they are going to

need training, the support until

they have the prison craft to be

able to deliver what we require.

More generally, we also need to

invest I believe a lot more in

training. Because prisons are

unbelievably complex environments,

the governor needs to have the

support, the training and I think

this could be months of training, to

make sure the governor is in

position to turn around the prison.

Training needs to apply to uniform

staff and finally the role of the

inspector in the select committee

will be vital in improving

performance. And he very much, Mr

Deputy Speaker.

I am grateful to the Minister for

that response. He was very much on

the case in recognising that we must

get basic things, basic willingness,

basic decency come a basic

maintenance, the ability to run a

regime where people can actually get

out to appointment is for health

care. All of that is critical.

Unless we turn those things around,

we face a crisis in our prisons. I

look forward to working with him on

those matters, especially if he will

take up our recommendations with

regards to the Inspectorate. I can

say that this is a case of a small

investment paying off in the

long-term.

I rise to speak in my

role as co-chair of a Parliamentary

group. While I welcomed the report,

it is is that the Justice committee

did not take evidence from union

representatives. I understand that

maintenance contractors refused to

undertake pest control at HMP

Liverpool. The previous governor,

who is also not called to give

evidence, had to use is already hard

pushed Budget. The autonomy is a

convenient cover for the prison's

state.

The select committee engaged

with the POA on a number of

occasions, and on an ongoing basis

will stop secondly, the issues in

relation to facilities maintenance

were examined in some detail as far

as that matter is concerned. We

indicate a report that we are not

satisfied with the outcome is and

intends to return to that. Thirdly,

it was specifically not the role to

examined the position of the

previous governor going forward. We

had evidence from the current

governor as to what is happening

now. We did not think that going

back into the history would be

constructive. We are trying to make

sure that this state of affairs does

not occur again.

One of the most

distressing aspects of this report

is its relationship to health care.

My honourable friend has spoken

about health care. Does he, like me,

share the view that we have no

confidence in the partnership

agreement that is going to be

brought forward, because one thing

it will not do is to get prisoners

out of their cells to attend

appointments?

He is right. I am

grateful to him for his work on the

select committee on this and many

other reports. That is why we are

calling for the partnership

agreement to be published, so we can

actually examine it. At the moment,

we cannot be satisfied it is fit for

purpose. Previous partnership

agreements have broken down, so we

need to know how this will be

different both in its structure and

how it will operate, to have the

reassurance we will not have a

repetition of what happened in the

past.

Let me congratulate the chair

and the members of the committee for

what is an excellent and timely and

important report. If we are to move

out prison estate from being simply

places of detention in whatever

apparatus condition, to where

rehabilitation is key, which is what

prisons have to be. While this moves

us forward, we have a lot of journey

to travel. There does need to be

something that can reconcile whether

we are delivering the policy of

health care and education and all

the other things that are necessary

inside a prison to allow how young

men to come out and be acceptable

citizens.

He is absolutely right. I know how

closely he has followed this as a

police and crime Commissioner in his

part of the world. This is a useful

step forward, but I don't pretend it

can be more than that. It has to be

part of a system exchange, and I

hope it drives that. We have to look

at a long-term strategy of what the

purpose of our prisons is.

I thank

him and his committee for their

report. When the Care Quality

Commission goes into investigate

local hospitals, it makes a

recommendation, and goes back at a

later date to see whether those

recommendations have been

implemented. I can't see why that

cannot take place with prisons. It

is alarming that the information

from the prison to the head of the

prison service was so inaccurate.

Given the speed of the report, witty

encourage the Minister to be equally

quick in responding to the findings

is committee has delivered?

The

quick answers are yes, yes, yes and

yes. I'm sure the Minister will be

quick in doing that. I'm sure it

will be similar to an Ofsted report

or a CQC report where they will not

be ignored for very long.

I thank

the committee for their quick action

and their quick reports. We must not

forget how we arrived at this

situation. Pleased about the

announcement sometime ago about

recruiting an extra 2500 prison

officers, but we must not forget we

lost 7000. there is a 4500 gap. The

nature of the inmates changed. We

have had all of the historical

sexual abuse cases, with different

health needs than and prisoners that

were already in prison. There have

been drains on the resources. At the

same time, the loss of those 7000

meant there were spikes in drugs.

Morale went down with the loss of

those prison officers. When we

started to recruit, a baggage

handler could be paid more than a

new recruit. It is important that

when we do recruit, and we are

recruiting now, when we do recruit

that they are trained properly. Not

a week or something like that, but

months. It is resources that are

needed. Money is important, but it

is also how that money is used.

Contract management, there has been

absolutely no contract management

from what I can see. I called for a

debate on mental health in prisons,

and it didn't appear that there was

any communication between the

prisons and the Health Service. The

contract was awarded, money given,

no monitoring of the contracts. As

the chair of the Justice select

committee said, it is about systems,

about getting them right. It is also

about resources, getting the right

people in, training them.

Excellent.

I very much welcome the honourable

lady back to the committee, where

she has served before. I am glad

she's back with us once more. It is

quite right that we have to look at

all of these issues, there is no

silver bullet to address that. We

need a comrade 's plan. I urge the

Government -- we need a

comprehensive plan. I look forward

to working to achieve that.

Staffing, resources, training,

morale, management and proper

contract management are all part of

the mix that we will need to

address.

Motion number one on

estimates. Minister to move. Thank

you. The question is as the order

paper. There is a lot of enthusiasm

here! I'm not sure we need this

estimate. I think we will say the

ayes have it. We now come to the

backbench. A backbench motion on the

role of disabled people in economic

growth. Up to 15 minutes speaking.

Many thanks. I would like to pay to

be to give the backbench Business

Committee for enabling this

extremely important debate to take

place today. Mr Deputy Speaker,

before I begin, I want to pay

tribute to the many organisations

that continuously championed the

rights of people with disabilities

across the UK. Without their

injuring commitment, we would not be

debating this important issue today.

-- enduring commitment. I want to

pay to beach to Leonard Cheshire and

disability rights UK

pay to beach to Leonard Cheshire and

disability rights UK. There are

dedicated medics that contributed to

the all-party parliamentary groups

ahead of the enquiry report. Since

commissioning the report, the

disability all-party Parliamentary

group has been pressing the

Government to address the disability

employment gap as a matter of

urgency. I know the minister today

is open and willing to listen to the

report's suggestions. Mr Deputy

Speaker, the backbench debate is a

significant step forward in the

fight for equal rights for disabled

people. To my knowledge, this is the

first time that people with

disabilities will be debated in the

main chamber with a focus on their

abilities and as contributors to our

economy, not as employees but also

as entrepreneurs and business

leaders.

Would she agree with me

that many employers need education,

particularly those with mental

health issues, as many employers are

scared or reluctant to take on such

issues.

I thank him for his

contribution. I think it is an

extremely important contribution.

Just prior to this debate, only

yesterday, I was contacted by a

number of people and organisations

reminding me to highlight that very

issue. People with mental health

difficulties and people with not

apparent disabilities find it

difficult to raise awareness of

their disabilities and the

adjustments they require. We need

heightened awareness amongst

employers and Parliament, I may

suggest, to make sure that we can

harness the skills and potential of

everyone for our economy. I thank

the honourable gentleman. All too

often, people with disabilities are

portrayed as passive and and willing

to work. However, this could never

be further from the truth. I want to

use this debate to change the

narrative. I want to see meaningful

action rather than research and

rhetoric. I want to see a welfare

system that treats people with

disabilities as a willing and able

workforce. I want to see

improvements in current access

routes, the development of work

those cultures that reflect a

genuine appreciation on the part of

employers to the positive

contributions that people with

disabilities make. I want to see

accredited business schemes that no

further than ticking boxes. While I

might not be able to cover all of

these points in my speech today, I

know colleagues cross-party around

the benches will be passionately

advocating similar policy changes

and attitude changes which are much

needed. I hope the Minister will

take on board everyone's suggestions

here the date, and they will make

progress going forward. I want to

start my speech on a positive,

uplifting note. I have been

absolutely heartened hearing

accounts of disabled entrepreneurs,

employees and businesses that are

champions of their fields in the

past few weeks was dubbed I would

like to share some examples today. A

tech entrepreneur recently run an

award for disabled entrepreneurs,

run in conjunction with Leonard

Cheshire disability. After creating

a video diary app that supports

people to manage their mental

health, called Mental Snap. They can

rate their mood and named their

feelings. It is innovation at its

finest, I applaud her for creating

the app which will help so many

people moving forward. A business

leader that owns his own sock

company that made several million

pounds in its first year. Its owner

has Down's syndrome. He runs the

company in conjunction with his

father and is the face of the brand.

He is a business leader and manager.

Nearly a third of his staff have

disabilities. He is a businessman,

and therefore is looking for good

disabilities. He is a businessman,

and therefore is looking for good,

reliable workers, and he believes

the disabled community have a vast

and untapped pool of workers. There

are also benefits to a diverse

workforce. Channel 4 and Sainsbury

is a good examples of inclusive

employers. Sainsbury's and Channel

4's workplace adjustment guide is

second to none top both companies

choose to focus on positive aspects

of making adjustments, rather than

their legal duty and minimal

requirements to do so. Most

importantly, these policies are

dissed to be did to all line

managers so everyone is aware of the

adjustments they are entitled to

creating, and inclusive implement

and environment workforce so that

employees and the companies output

can thrive.

Channel 4 goes further by issuing

passports for employees after

receiving a workplace adjustment, so

when they move into a new roller or

perhaps their line manager changes,

the passport can be referred to and

used in all future discussions with

the new line managers. Whilst there

are many other great examples of

disabled business owners and

entrepreneurs and also inclusive

employers, I wanted to highlight

these particular three. Each example

shows that in every corner of our

economy, in every type and size of

business, inclusivity should be

championed. Not just for ethical

reasons, but also because it makes

good business and economic sense to

do so.

I thank her for securing this

debate and also for the examples is

given about the good practices in

certain organisations, but is she

aware that only 16% of people with

autism are in full-time employment

and only 30% of autistic adults are

any kind of employment at all and

will she agreed with me much more

needs to be done to close the

employment gap in autism?

I thank my

colleagues for that extremely

important intervention. And for

highlighting the autism employment

gap, which is far too large, much

larger even than the disability

employment gap. We much make extra

strides to support people with

autism into work because they have

great skills and abilities. And they

will be fantastic tribute to our

economy given appropriate

opportunities to do so.

I'm grateful

for giving way and for securing this

important debate. I would like to

salute the work she does on

disability. I sit on the Work and

Pensions select committee and one of

the things we are looking at the

moment is how employers, work

coaches, and people with disability

can better understand the assistive

technology emerging. Does she think

that we could do more to bring those

three interested parties together to

help people to enter and stay in the

workforce?

I thank him for a very

important intervention. I am not a

technical buff myself, but I'm

always heartened when we can see

technology assisting people to

achieve their potential into work

and I think it is extremely

important example he is giving. We

need collaboration to dig those

issues forward. Thank you. Mr Deputy

Speaker, examples of best practice

are exactly that, examples to aspire

to, and as uplifting as they are,

they are not a true reflection of

the experience of many disabled

people. They do not reflect the

systemic problems and barriers faced

by people with disability looking

for work or trying to retain it, and

it is time for Parliament to

question why these practices in

moving forward and in developing

inclusivity are not more

commonplace. In 2017, a report was

published which found that one in

two people with disabilities had

experienced bullying and harassment

in work and felt that they could no

longer take place in work

comfortably, and over half, 58%,

felt the risk of losing their jobs,

so not only is it about getting

people into work, but ensuring an

environment which maintains people

in work and helps them to achieve

their potential throughout. Disabled

people also have to apply for more

jobs than non-disabled people before

finding one. Research has indicated

almost up to 60% more jobs have to

be applied for. Lauren Pitt, in

2017, reported to the Independent

she had to apply for over 250 jobs

before securing one, so something is

obviously not working correctly and

we must ensure that employers are

open to employing people with

disabilities. Seeing their skills.

Seeing their ability and value to

the workplace and the economy. The

disability employment gap is large

and enduring for the most recent

figures from 2017 showed the gap

currently stands at 31.4%. 80% of

non-disabled people of working age

are in work, but the figure for

people with disabilities is just

49%. This has routinely been

recognised by the Government and, in

the 2015 manifesto, they committed

to having this disability employment

gap, but research from the all-party

Parliamentary group shows, on the

basis of progress to September 2016,

this would have taken 49 years to

achieve. The 2017 manifesto replaced

this commitment with a new

commitment to get 1 million more

disabled people into work in the

next ten years. Analysis shows this

new target is weaker and likely to

be met perhaps because of the number

of disabled people within the

working age population itself

increasing. This means that even

though local Government could meet

their new target, the size of the

disability employment gap may not

actually fall and this is something

that we must take account of. Most

of the Government's proposals for

reaching the more attainable

commitment are published within the

command paper improving lives, and

brief look at this paper shows

almost all of these policies are

dependent on further research and

pilot schemes and cost of very

little to run. So I would ask that

we have adequate resourcing and

prioritisation. We cannot afford to

sit and wait. Unemployed people with

disabilities are entitled to the

same opportunities now as everyone

else. Our economy cannot afford to

sit and wait either. Scope estimated

using the employment gap for

disability by just 10% and generate

a further £12 billion to the

exchequer by 2030, so this makes

absolute economic sense. Finding a

solution to the problem goes

significantly beyond the

Government's current focus on

welfare and benefits. Instead, we

will not see significant increases

in the number of disabled people in

employment unless employers can be

in courage to increase their game

and acknowledge the positive

contribution that people with

disabilities make in the workplace

and develop new workplace cultures

and practices that are

accommodating. Reasonable

adjustments are key. I will very

briefly...

Very briefly, just to

support what she is saying about the

businesses, does she think that

there may be a case for having

larger employers report on the

proportion of their workforce that

has a disability, so that we can see

those larger employers that are not

pulling their weight and taking

advantage of the high quality

disabled employees in the market?

Yes, I agree entirely with the

honourable gentleman on that point,

and it is particularly concerning

that the Office for National

Statistics has suspended publication

of disability statistics from the

labour Force survey, so I think

that's something we should be

ensuring is taken forward. It is in

an employer's self-interest to make

a difference in this area, not least

because it gives a solution to the

labour market problems likely to

face the country in tighter controls

on the free movement of people. The

UK currently has a skills shortage

that will become more profound once

we leave the European Union. Indeed,

KPMG recently published figures

indicating almost 1 million EU

citizens, many highly qualified,

planning to leave following Brexit.

We already have a willing workforce

of people with disabilities whose

skills are undervalued, who should

be trained in sectors that are

developing and which are much needed

for the future. Health and tech

sectors are extremely important. It

is fundamentally a labour supply

issue full for the Government will

not be able to deliver on its

industrial strategy if it does not

have the capacity to do so. So we

need to train our working workforces

across the UK and see more

investment in apprenticeships and

targeted widespread advertising and

of current access to work schemes to

encourage the business community to

utilise their workforce. The new

commitment in the industrial

strategy is to increase the

proportion of apprenticeships

starting by people with disabilities

by 20% and I commend the Minister,

but it is not enough, it is part of

the solution. The Government

acknowledges this critical role for

employers but its main policy with

regards to this is to encourage or

employers to sign up to confidence

schemes forth as I've argued

previously in Parliament, the

evidence from disability confidence

is variable, it shows the scheme

does not refer enough and result in

enough people being employed and it

is particularly worrying therefore

that improving lives command paper

uses this scheme is one of its

central policies for achieving

targets. The all-party Parliamentary

group points out a number of

alternative bold new policy

initiatives the Government should

pursue. These include using public

film and contracts as leveraged by

stipulating that such contracts will

only go to firms which monitor

disabled people's employment and

commit to adopting an inclusive

approach to employment and retention

policies and to that end, Government

initiatives should think of people

with disabilities not just as

employees but entrepreneurs and

business leaders also. The

Government must ensure disabled

entrepreneurs receive the support

they need from business advisory

networks such as the Federation of

businesses and local chambers of

commerce. And the financial support

that they need from bodies such as

innovate UK and the British business

bank. Mr Deputy Speaker, I refer to

two examples of entrepreneurs with

disabilities Ilia and the notion

disabled people can be business

owners and entrepreneurs as one as

employees was completely missed by

the improving lives paper. We must

ensure disabled people are not

pigeonholed into one sector and have

the opportunity to choose their own

future and be masters of their

lives, and that is why the access to

work scheme should also apply to

start-ups, to accommodate the talent

and innovation of people with

disabilities. The Government must go

further and find a specialist advice

services about taxation and benefits

for people with disabilities who

want to explore the opportunities of

self-employment. As I have laid out

today, the solutions are there and

every corner of the economy, if

action is taken the benefits could

be felt by all in society

immediately but for this to happen

we need to change the current

narrative so that good policy is put

into practice. So my constituents

and those of other honourable

members throughout the land

recognise that we do need to tap

into the underutilised and important

human resource of people with

disabilities who are willing and

able to work. The workforce is there

and ready and it will only grow when

we leave the European Union. It in

the self-interest of employers,

Government, of everyone to engage

with this agenda and to accommodate

a diverse and inclusive workforce.

There are far too many disabled

people who are facing no real

prospect in today's job market. This

is simply unsustainable and, quite

frankly, bad economics. So I am

pleased to have been able to bring

this debate to the chamber today and

I look forward to hearing from other

colleagues's experiences and I look

forward to working together as part

of the Parliamentary group for

disability across the House in

taking this extremely important

issue forward.

The question is as on

the order paper.

Thank you, Mr

Deputy Speaker Fulston I shall try

to be better behaved today. I'm

truly grateful to the honourable

lady for East Kilbride for leading

this afternoon 's debate and for the

tone she strikes and her

constructive ideas. This follows a

valuable Westminster board debate

tabled by the Member for South

Perthshire on the government's

disability confidence scheme which

she also made a thoughtful

contribution to. During that debate,

members highlighted some of the

economic opportunities before us if

we increased participation of

disabled people in the workplace. We

also focused on barriers to

employment, the disability

employment gap, and the access to

work scheme and as such, I shan't go

into the subject again be on

suggesting that the disability

employment gap is an issue every

business and other workforce diverse

have as a challenge. That a lack of

employment awareness of the support

available and we ought to lead in

publicising the Government

assistance and in this vein I have

now signed up as a disability

employer and have discussed at my

local job centre the possibility of

offering a work placement for local

disabled job-seekers with an

interest in politics. This afternoon

however I wish to focus on economic

costs if we fail to unlock the

potential of disabled people of all

ages as well as economic power of

disabled people as both an active

consumer group and as a motivation

to develop new assisted technologies

with broader application to a

growing elderly population. I have

previously highlighted the case love

two artistic constituents who

desperately want to work but

struggle with the initial stage of

any new job. But in the past few

weeks I've met families of autistic

children who believe that early

support intervention as Woody must

be focusing our attention. I

recently visited first step, local

charity which provide intensive

development full support to

preschool children. It can be a huge

shock to parents to discover their

child has a disability. It they

assess and not just the development

of a child of supporting parents

themselves in a very non-judgemental

environment. Caring for a child

disabilities conveys a huge

financial strain on a family

particular parents need to take time

off work and do not have the right

support network in place. However,

in the words of one local parent, a

failure to develop a child is not

only a moral mistake, but also an

expensive financial one.

With no support, they will be left

in adult daycare centres or worse.

Too often, local authority support

is either entirely absent or limited

and patchy. It increases the chance

of economic participation when that

child reaches adult hood and reduces

the need for adult services later in

life. We also need steady

improvements to the transport

system. The less daunting it is to

leave home, the more disabled people

will be able to participate in the

economy by working and spending. I

support several campaigns. I would

be appreciative if the Minister

could apply pressure on the Mayor of

London to improve facilities.

Finally, with the advent of new

assistive technologies, there is

greater scope than ever before for

disabled people to contribute to

growth. As the financial Times

suggested in a recent article, 1

billion people across the world have

some form of disability. As people

live longer, often with conditions

that reduce their ability to use

their hands or coordinate, the

market will grow sharply, meaning

that accessibility is important.

Technology will be vital not just in

terms of quality-of-life but in

making it easier for disabled people

to participate fully in the

workforce. Disability sport has in

recent years been critical of

changing perceptions of people with

disabilities. I hope that

technological advances could help

but Judge -- help that trajectory.

I should be most grateful to the

Minister if she could update the

House on how the Government is

promoting accessibility, and would

also appreciate her views on early

investment and transport.

I would

like to pay tribute to my honourable

friend, the chair. It is an issue on

and off that I've been working in

for over 20 years. So it's quite

interesting to see that, despite all

the efforts that many people have

made over the years, we have just

under 4 million people with

disabilities that are called

economically inactive, which means

they are of a working age to be

implied but are not. -- to be

employed. I have been working with

people to support John Major in

getting the DDA, which is a game

changer. This meant there was a

regulatory framework, meaning you

could not discriminate against

disabled people in goods and

services educate not discriminate

against people in employment. The

reason that was a game changer as

often discrimination is tacit and

nuanced. It could be the poor you

model, you poor, brave disabled

person. We don't mean to do that, it

is part of human nature, a lack of

understanding. It can be difficult

to break through. It still can be,

sadly, although I do believe there

has been some progress over the

years. One area of the DDA that

worked well this on goods and

services. The reason for that is if

I'm in arrest and and I don't put a

ramp outside -- if I own a

restaurant, and I don't put a wrap

outside and someone with a

wheelchair cannot get in, they can

sue me. Often when you make

something accessible, you make more

than enough money to pay for the

cost of the access ability. It is

harder with employment. Particularly

if you are disabled and you are

applying for a job. If you are

someone who works for a company and

acquire a disability, the DDA and

also the broader knowledge now, I

think, means that businesses, either

in the public or private sector, are

likely to make the necessary effort

to keep you in the job. What is

harder is if you have a disability

is to get over the threshold to get

that job. That is a difficult one.

It is something that I struggled

with many years ago, with some very

good disability consultants who have

done so much over the years. The

four of us work for many years in

this area with the employers Forum

on disability and others to try to

break through. It was difficult. It

is interesting since I've lost the

election, been away at a comeback,

and again the committee is going

great guns. To be honest, Mr Deputy

Speaker, I still feel a little bit

downhearted. It is not my nature.

Anyone who is liberal and

downhearted is in the wrong party,

they are in the wrong party. You

have to be an optimist was. It can

be a game changer. One of the

utility companies, one of the big

ones, had a call centre in north

London. I'm sure the members of the

House no that they turn over you

have in call centres is very high

because it is a difficult job. With

a number of others, I worked with

this utility to persuade them to

take on 15 people with disabilities

as call centre agents. It was hard

work, but to give them that you

, they did their best. People often

just left the carpet and sweep

people with disabilities under the

carpet. That is something that I

found very frustrating and it made

me very angry. With this call

centre, they did finally agree, and

we found the right number of

disabled staff to be interviewed, 15

or so were hired. What I can tell

you is that, a year later, 14 of

them were still there. Two years

later, there were still 14 of them.

One of the fundamental advantages of

hiring disabled staff, in my view,

is that they will actually offer me

more reliable work than non-disabled

people. It makes the business case

for hiring disabled people very

strong. They will need some

guidance, some support, not least

because their disability, take my

own disability of hearing loss, I

need a hearing loop. It is a matter

of providing the right facilities

for that disabled person so they can

shine. The bigger issue is the quiet

discrimination of either they're not

being capable or, you don't have to

deal the situation, and those things

are difficult to change. So where

are we at? The report on improving

lives is important because it

highlighted some of the figures. 3.7

million economically inactive, as I

mentioned. Another figure was that

if you take out 1% of ESA, of

disabled people not receiving ESA

because they have gained employment,

it would save the Exchequer 250

million and boost the economy by a

further 260 million. So half £8

billion. That seems important for

making that bit of extra help to get

people into jobs. -- half a billion

pounds. I have already mentioned the

disability challenges, but if you

have been out of work for many years

it is hard to get back into work.

With the right levels of support, it

is transformational for those

individuals and their families. A

recent report by Joseph Rowntree

found that half of households in

poverty have at least one disabled

member of the House. It is one of

the reasons why we know that getting

people into jobs and out of the

cycle of poverty is the key reason

we're here. Is not just enough to

say we need things. I have been here

four years. Well-meaning isn't

enough. It needs regulation. The

DDA, the of conservative Prime

Minister John Major introduced ...

I'm tremendously grateful for what

he did. It allowed for change. When

you have emotional attitudes, you

often don't realise that you could

be wrong or you could be

discriminating. That is why there

are certain times, even as a

liberal, you need to bring in

legislation. DDA is one, seat belt

is another. I have been here long

enough to remember the uproar around

seat belts. You had to wear a seat

belt, if not you got busted by the

law was up since then, the number of

people dying from car accidents has

plummeted. It is the same with

disability. What we need more with

the DDA, I believe is the need to be

greater incentives for people to

recruit disabled people. You need to

be as perceptive as this to break

this logjam. I think the need for it

is more than ever because, with

Brexit, whatever side of the divide

we sit on, we know that there will

be substantial people's shortages in

employment in the coming years. A

recent report identified that Tier

two occupations, there would be 32

areas of Shoreditch of staff. -- of

of shortage staff.

I think this government's decision

to change the work-related component

of ESA to mean that they would

receive a lot less money than they

had earlier is a really foolish and

short-sighted decision. There are

three areas of ESA, the support

group which means you have a

disability that is such that you

cannot work, and then their risk

basic ESA at the front end and in

the middle there was something which

recognised a disability that Pete

extra money above and beyond the

normal jobseeker's allowance because

it saw that your disability meant

that you faced further costs. It

also recognised you are ready to

work with support. You got people

into that frame of mind where they

were ready to take a risk, to leave

the structure of support ESA. Then,

after the coalition and the Liberals

were given a straight edge, George

Osborne quickly cut it. It was cut

by 30%. -- the Liberals were given a

defenestrated. If I did go for a

job, never underestimate how strong

fear is in those situations. With

edible encouragement, I will step

into the component, and a properly

tell me I am having my salary cut by

30%. I will do whatever it takes to

stay in the support group because

that is human nature. It is not

rocket science, it is what you would

do. It is what I would do, even

someone as intrepid as you would do

that, Mr Speaker. Because you can be

sure you have the money for the roof

over your head and your children. It

was a foolish idea, and I'm bitterly

disappointed the Government did it.

Clearly, not surprisingly, and I

know from my own constituency

mailbag, I have people try to get

back into the support group. I

support them.

I would like the disabilities

minister to address that and perhaps

take that to the Chancellor that it

was a bad idea and we can change it.

Finally, where are we act? Again,

I'm very grateful for the honourable

member for East Kilbride bring this

debate. It's important. It affects

hundreds and hundreds of thousands

of people across the country.

There's not an MP in this House who

will not have hundreds if not

thousands of disabled people in

their constituency. It is so

important. We know in this room, in

this chamber from our own casework

levels just how many people with

disabilities come and for help and

support. I would just love to see

this Government or a Government step

up and just do a DDA part to around

employment that absolutely said

businesses, private and public

sector, organisations, charities

have to do so and employ ex-member

of disabled people, to at least show

because I don't want it to be

tokenistic, people are disabilities

have tremendous skills about

opportunity, so maybe it would be

pleased to show you have systems and

processes that you have interviewed

a record number of people for every

job with disabilities. I know if

that happens, it will transform I

think the employment opportunities

for disabled people, it will

transform many, many millions of

families because of the poverty are

a lot of people live in, where one

or both parents are disabled, it be

a game changer that this nation

deserves and with Brexit coming up,

it could be possibly something

positive to come out from Brexit.

Many thanks, Mr Deputy Speaker.

Thank you very much.

I thank the

honourable lady for East Kilbride

for bringing this backbench debate

to the size. I'd also like to pay

tribute to my honourable friend the

Member for Hornchurch and Upminster

who was an actual friend as well,

and she made a very powerful speech

and she definitely still at least

half of the things I was going to

say. People often ask why do to go

into politics? I'm sure we all get

asked that and we all have many

reasons for going into politics, not

just one, but, for me, the most

important reason why I am in

politics is to enable everybody to

use their God-given talents whatever

they are in as best they way as they

can and contribute both for

themselves, their family, society

and the country and that is why I am

in politics and people with

disabilities are fully included

within that and that is why I think

this debate and this subject is of

critical importance. Now, there will

be those who say that many

disability benefits should be more

generous and in some ways they

probably should be. And I'm sure

that the Minister, because I know

her to strongly believe in this

brief, and the Treasury ministers

will always do what they can to make

up sure appropriate resources are

there to help those who need them.

But let's not kid ourselves. What is

really important, and the subject of

this debate is economic growth but

it's actually important for people's

well-being, for their lives, is the

opportunity to make the most of

themselves in a professional work

career capacity, that is critically

important, and so, yes, benefits are

critically important but we all

silly to do everything we can to get

everybody who has a disability into

appropriate work where possible. --

absolutely everything. That is what

I regard to be the heart of social

mobility. Now we often talk about

social mobility in this House, in

many different ways, in education

debates, higher education, in the

Treasury, business departments, all

over the place, and usually the way

we talk about social mobility as we

say there's an individual who has

usually come from a very poor

background and they've overcome the

odds, achieved something fantastic

and got to the top of a profession

and we should celebrate that. It is

what Britain is about but actually,

in my view, social mobility is

really more fundamental. It is about

ensuring that society uses the

skills and innate talents of those

who both, with and without

disabilities, to their fullest, that

is true social mobility, so that

everybody has the ability to use

their God-given talents and make the

most of their lives. So where are we

now for policy perspective,

governmental perspective? The

Conservative Party manifesto 2017, I

did read it, and that's a good thing

as a new candidate, I read a very,

very carefully, it stated, "One

million more people with

disabilities should be into

employment in the next ten years."

Now, by my calculation is, we need

to grow numbers, because people are

disabilities have fallen to 4.5

million people, over the next ten

years, in order to achieve that

target, it would mean a growth of

almost 30% on current levels, and I

think we would all agree on this has

that is a big task and something

that the Government and this party

is very focused on and in fact I

suspect from across the House we

will find agreement on that. What

does the Government aimed to do? In

November 2017, the Government set

out a 10-year plan to improve the

situation and to deliver on this

manifesto pledge and I'm sure the

Minister will elucidate on this plan

further and whether Government is

with it, but, in essence, it is, on

reading it, it appeared that the

main thrust of it appeared to be

linking up the welfare system, the

workplace and health care and in

particular, and this has already

been alluded to in this debate,

bringing in new technologies,

especially assistive technologies to

really help turbo-charge this growth

that we have been gradually seeing

so people with disabilities can

enter the workplace. Now, a 5% rise

in employment among people with

disabilities would bring an increase

in GDP of £23 billion with tax

revenues up somewhere in the region

of 5-6 billion pounds, a

considerable number. Research by

Scope, the disabled charity, is

found 58% of disabled people however

have felt at risk of losing their

job because of their impairment or

condition. And it is quite clear to

me and clear to most if not all

members of this House that we need

to work much more closely and

intensively with employers in order

to drive change. Now several decades

ago, there were many employers who

did not like to employ women. And

what happened, over time, this

House, working with employers and

through legislation, helped drive

change. A few decades ago, there

were several employers who didn't

like taking on, a time where people

did not look like me in this place

all the other place, or the lady

opposite, and they did not like to

employ people of ethnic minorities,

and what happened, this House with

the legislation and working closely

with employers, helped drive change.

Now the time has come for those with

disabilities to get much better

access to employment opportunities.

And the Government needs to work

with employers, along with a

legislation already in place, to

help drive change. No disability

confident as a good scheme and I

think that it is welcome across the

business community and Government

and civil society, but I believe we

can go further and the Government

should bear in mind the huge gains,

not just economic gains, but the

huge games and life chances and

economic potential of this huge

group of people. In my view, there

are two main things that we need to

go further to do, in order to help

drive this change, drive this

turbo-charge. The first is to

financially incentivise perhaps

through the tax system or in another

way employers to take on more people

with disabilities, especially in

industries where typically today

they may not be found. But, in

conjunction with that, and this is

the critical bit, the way that that

will happen appropriately and this

is what businesses tell me when I

have this discussion with them, is

that we need to be able to have a

much better understanding of the

different capabilities of different

people with disabilities, so that we

can make sure you match the right

employment opportunities with the

right people and if we do that

properly, combined with proper

incentives for business, I think we

can really see a huge increase in

this area. Wants more people with

disabilities I believe getting to

the workplace, and not just get into

it, but progress within their

workplace, get promoted, get to the

top of their businesses, they will

show what they can do. They will

show you what they can contribute

and this will send a powerful

message not just to them or Society

or this House, but to the country as

a whole, but...

Jayme Stone.

Thank

you very much for them, I

congratulate the honourable member

for East Kilbride in placing this

debate before us? It an

extraordinarily important subject

and it is perhaps a shame this not

more members here today but we have

some of the best groups in the

chamber. As Miss Jean Brodie

would've said, we can consider

ourselves the creme de la creme. I

have a personal interest in this

matter, which I will make note of

the House, because my wife is

disabled. She has been disabled

since 1999 and therefore has

featured largely in our lives and as

a members may be aware, I was a

member in Scotland. I quickly

realised the temporary Scottish

Parliament, it was completed

unsuitable for anyone who was

disabled and I volunteered to go on

the small committees and was given

the responsibility building the new

building and we put in place

complete disabled access including

in the chamber of Holyrood itself. I

might say that that job at that time

very nearly cost me my seat such as

the controversy attached to the

Scottish Parliament. That was then

and this is now on I must say for

the record I'm proud to be involved

in building such a disabled friendly

place. The Member for East Kilbride

talked about examples and that seems

to me to be ultra important. Just

two points, the first being that in

the summer of this year, one of the

northernmost Highland games, the

Prince of Wales who will attend in

the summer, and for the first time,

disabled servicemen are going to

take part in the event at the May

games, a historic first for the

Highland games, in Scotland, and

certainly for the far North. And the

other example that will stay with me

to my dying day was a former member

of this place, Dame Anne Begg, who

graced the Labour benches for number

of years here. I knew her because

she was involved in a cross-party

group of oil and gas and I was in

the Scottish Parliament and she was

here in Westminster, and I will

never ever forget going to visit an

oil installation in a field in

Norway, and we were in a semi open

boat with a noisy diesel engine and

there was an in their wheelchair.

The weather can change in the

Atlantic, and a storm came. The boat

was going backwards and forwards and

we had to attach her wheelchair to

prevent it going overboard but such

was their courage and good humour

that she never blinked once and I

think that was example of someone

with disability facing adversity in

life and she got on with it and I

will never forget that as an example

of somebody I thought was very,

very, very brave indeed.

The ambition based on these examples

is there. Particularly I pay tribute

to the honourable member for Hitchin

and Hutton for bringing that point

up. It is hugely important. Today,

my wife volunteers for the local

museum in my hometown, and she is up

in raising money for Marie Curie.

The point of this is that these

underpaid involvements enrich her

life. It makes everything much more

worthwhile. If you can broaden that

out into employment, you can see the

great gift it would give. The points

that have been made about taxation

at benefits are absolutely right. I

was intrigued yesterday. I have an

Irish son-in-law who came by

Westminster in search of a smaller

freshman, and he asked me what I

would be talking about today. I said

it would be about this particular

issue, about disability and using

resources. He struck thing by saying

that he is involved in the textile

business in the Republic of Ireland.

There is a government incentive

scheme to encourage the implement of

people in this situation. We could

learn something from the Republic on

that. The point has been made that

we are mugs if we don't utilise the

skills and abilities and ambition

and enthusiasm that is out there.

Goodness knows, during the next few

years, we will have to mobilise

everything we have got in the UK

because it is an ever more difficult

and competitive world. That is the

reality is we have to use every

single person we have got, and they

will relish the opportunity. I have

absolutely no doubt whatsoever. I

look forward with great interest to

see what the Minister has to say. We

are as one in this chamber. I guess

as a not so new member, 7.5 months,

I'm sure this is one thing that

Westminster does best, to get on to

issues like this. I'm astonished it

hasn't been debated before. Never

mind, here we are today. I believe

it is as simple as this. There is a

bargain to be struck here. I think

that disabled people are offering

their half of the bargain, and I

think it is up to the Government and

all of us in society in the UK to

grasp the hand and on how half of

the bargain and make their lives

better. Thank you.

I would like to

start by bringing my congratulations

to the member for East Kilbride on

this important debate today. I'm

delighted to speak in today's debate

on the role of disabled people in

economic growth. Economic growth is

built on development and progress.

But also on people, the essential

building block. People who are

manual workers, managers,

entrepreneurs, females and males,

all ethnicities and able-bodied and

disabled people. Disabled people

play an important role in economic

growth. The wording is a little too

crude. It is not enough for disabled

people to be in jobs to boost

growth, but they deserve the same

career opportunities. It is not a

question of economics but also one

of equality. Only half of working

age people in the UK who are

disabled or have a health condition

or in work. The work rate for people

without disabilities is 80.6%. We

must rectified this inequality. We

must hire those who have overcome

obstacles. We must empower and

assist the disabled so they have the

confidence and the tools to work in

an even playing field. That is why I

fully back the commitment and

strategy to getting 1 million more

disabled people into employment by

2027. I'm delighted that 100,000

more people disabilities were in

work last year compared to 2016.

Working with employers is key to

reaching this target, which is why

the Government has pledged to work

with industry. Disabled people have

overcome adversity and can offer

workplaces skills such as

determination, they generally stay

in workplaces for longer and have

lower rates of absenteeism. But only

one half of employers have reported

that they recognise the benefits of

employing someone with a disability

or health condition for their

organisation. It's about changing

attitudes and cultures, especially

in certain sectors. For example, the

rate of disabled people in

engineering and science and

technology is very low. The problem

is twofold, you have to encourage

disabled people to believe that they

can do these roles, and also

ensuring that the jobs exist. The

disability confidence scheme has

done great work in this area.

Helping organisations to improve how

they attract, recruit and retain

disabled workers. As of the 16th of

November last year, there were 5359

employers signed up to the scheme.

We need to do work to make sure more

take part. One of the biggest

hurdles is the adaptations that are

needed to the employer's offices.

There is also a lack of awareness

that the 2010 equalities act mean

that employers are based attitude

duty to make reasonable adjustments.

I'm keen to hear from the minister

about how he plans to challenge this

lack of awareness. Adapting

workplaces is also important when a

staff member becomes disabled. The

disability employment gap is partly

driven by disabled people who have

fallen out of employment. One in ten

disabled people falling out of work

each year, convert to one in 20 in

the non-disabled work population.

Retention is key. That is why I

welcome the proposed sophistication

of the scheme to enable employers to

better understand and support their

employees' needs. It is important to

note that their access for work

grants that can pay for special

equipment adaptations or support

worker services. I'm delighted that

it is being rolled out to the

self-employed. We need to raise

awareness of these. Out of work

grants have been taken up by 25,000

people on average per year. These

figures have stagnated for the last

three gears, indicating we really

need to promote awareness. In

addition, we really need to reach a

younger age group. I have spoken a

lot about employers but it is also

important to encourage individuals

to apply for jobs. Physically

disabled people are also in need of

emotional and mental health support

when re-entering the workplace, and

it is important not to forget the

physical this abilities and mental

health challenges are not mutually

exclusive.

Ritchie agree with me that way you

have a disabled person who is in

rewarding employment, that that

person could perhaps take some time

be encouraged to act as a mental

-- encouraged to act as a mentor.

Being role models for other people

and acting as mentors is a wonderful

initiative we should be doing to

encourage more people to have the

self belief and determination to

progress their dreams and explore

opportunities. We should not just

treat physical this abilities and

mental disabilities in silos, we

need to treat them together for the

best outcomes. I'm delighted that

the key outcomes for the white paper

includes this area. The roll-out of

personal support packages includes

the recruitment of 200 community

partners, 300 disability employment

advisers, 100 small employers

advisers and an extra 1000 mental

health and support bases. In

conclusion, over the last two gears,

the disability employment gap has

reduced by 1.9%, so we are on the

right track was top we could save

240 million and provide a boost to

the economy is 206 the million.

Getting more disability into jobs is

essential. It would be of great

financial benefit to our country,

but I actually think the main

benefit will be to the disabled

people themselves. In turn, making

our society more equal. I shall end

what I began and stressed that it is

not just an issue of economics but

also one of equality.

First of all, it is always a

pleasure to follow the honourable

lady and I thank her for her aunt

ablution. -- for her contribution.

She is clearly a champion for those

with disabilities, and I'm pleased

to be a part of the group that she

chairs. Yesterday, I was able to

participate in some of those things

that the honourable lady put forward

and give a Northern Ireland

perspective to it. I will probably

do that today as well. Also nice to

see the Minister in her place. As an

expression of her interest in this

subject, we had the disability

confident event that the Minister

organise. It was good to go along

and support what she is doing, but

also to have a greater knowledge.

One thing about being an MP is you

learn every day if you want to. I

want to extend my knowledge of those

things. It was an opportunity to do

that yesterday. I could expect to

them what we were doing. A number of

things in my constituency in

relation to what we are doing, what

private businesses are doing. The

Shadow Minister and her

contribution. I look forward to her

contribution. I stand in the shape

to speak out for many people in our

communities stop the get that

knowledge from our everyday

interactions in our communities.

Over 7 million people of working age

are disabled or ... I would hope

that they would have an opportunity

to see how they can achieve that

goal. Some disabled cannot work,

that is a fact of life which has to

be accepted. Those who want to work,

which we are trying to make happen

through this debate. The employment

rate for people with disabilities

was higher in 2017 than 2016. There

is quite clearly a strategy that is

trying to address the issue, because

there are more people with

disabilities in employment and were

a year ago. That has got to be a

good news. When you see the chart at

the library provided, they provide

some excellent information for us

when it comes to preparing for these

debates, and gives us his chance to

do things well. I read the action

report hard at work, which was

interesting reading, as opposed to

just citing their work 33% of

disabled people in work in Northern

Ireland, but asked the question why.

I will ask that today. I am

conscious that the Minister as there

was possible to four Northern

Ireland, and I respect that. To give

the detail to the debate and the