Diana Johnson MP: speeches

Speeches

• 28 Jan 2026 · Youth Unemployment · Hansard source

  More

  I am just going to complete the Conservatives’ record, because I think it would be beneficial for us all to hear it. When the Conservatives were chucked out, the youth unemployment rate stood at 13%, compared with just over 9% two years earlier, and the number of young people economically inactive due to long-term sickness had more than doubled in five years to over a quarter of a million on the Conservatives’ watch. They also failed to support young people in the face of the changing retail sector, for example. Many young people start their careers in that sector—I certainly started with a Saturday job—but retail job opportunities have fallen since 2017 as new technology changes how people shop and how shops employ people. The Conservatives took no action on that, so their legacy for young people looks pretty dismal from virtually every angle.

• 28 Jan 2026 · Youth Unemployment · Hansard source

  More

  I beg to move an amendment, to leave out from “House” to end and insert: “welcomes the Government’s commitment to invest in young people’s futures; notes that the UK has the second highest youth employment rate in the G7; recognises that the Government announced more than £1.5 billion of investment over the next three years, consisting of £820 million of funding for the Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn, and £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy; further welcomes that the expanded Youth Guarantee will reach almost 900,000 young people, including through Youth Hubs in every area in Great Britain and a new Youth Guarantee Gateway; further notes that this investment will also create around 300,000 more opportunities to gain workplace experience and training; and further recognises that, as part of the Youth Guarantee, the Government is breaking the cycle of unemployment by guaranteeing paid work to around 55,000 young people aged 18 to 21 who have been on Universal Credit and looking for work for 18 months.” In the north, we would say that the hon. Member for Faversham and Mid Kent (Helen Whately) has some brass neck to make the speech she has just delivered. As an MP who has been in the House for some time, it might be helpful to us all if I remind the hon. Lady about her party’s record over the past 14 years. Her party fumbled the handling of the pandemic, setting back a whole generation of kids. It failed to deal with the growing mental health crisis among young people, left school buildings to crumble, and decimated youth centres. Let us just look at the facts about youth employment specifically. Under the last Conservative Government, the number of young people not in education, employment or training grew by 45% in just three years. Scarily, that left almost 1 million young people—one in eight—on the sidelines when the Conservatives were chucked out of office.

• 28 Jan 2026 · Youth Unemployment · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend is exactly right. That is the kind of initiative that will help deliver for these young people who are out of work, particularly with health problems, health conditions and disabilities. I think all of us in the House would recognise how disheartening it can be for young people who are looking for work who cannot find that opportunity. They may not have the confidence or knowledge to apply for the jobs that are out there. Let us put ourselves in the shoes of an 18-year-old who has perhaps lost their way a little bit and does not have the confidence; it can be difficult for them to go into a jobcentre to find out what opportunities are available. That is why, as part of the youth guarantee, we are expanding the DWP youth hubs located in places such as football clubs and other sports facilities to more than 350 areas across Great Britain. I accept that youth hubs were part of the previous Government’s plans to deal with youth unemployment, but they were small in number. We are expanding them to 350. Youth hubs are helping people such as Erin, a young woman who was unemployed for two years and struggling with her motivation. After visiting a youth hub based at Crystal Palace football club, she was able to complete a work placement before being offered a permanent job. That came off the back of joining a hospitality programme, which gave her valuable experience and confidence. It goes to show what young people can achieve when they are motivated, confident and have that self-belief. That is why the expansion of youth hubs forms just one part of our wider youth guarantee, which is designed to make sure that no young person is left behind.

• 28 Jan 2026 · Youth Unemployment · Hansard source

  More

  I will make some progress, because many Back Benchers want to speak. The skills White Paper sets out our plan to build a more specialised and more efficient higher education sector that will better meet the needs of the economy. The graduate economic inactivity rate is now at its lowest on record, and we want to build on that. We recognise the need for modern technical skills, and not just the old academic subjects. I saw that for myself at the Ron Dearing university technical college in Hull only last week—young people honing their skills and getting a brilliant education. No matter what path young people choose, we want them to have the skills to succeed. Skills are vital in the world of work today, but more than a quarter of all vacancies are skills shortage vacancies. That is why, last year, the Prime Minister set out our bold ambition for two thirds of young people to enter higher-level education or training. We have added adult skills to the Department for Work and Pension’s brief, to help us join up employment support and skills more closely, so that young people have genuine pathways into good jobs. We are significantly expanding sector-based work academy programmes—SWAPs—in England and Scotland; there will be more than 145,000 additional places over the next three years. Just today, our colleagues at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology announced a new package to give people the skills that will enable them to seize the opportunities that artificial intelligence will bring. That includes an expansion of free AI foundation training for all workers, to upskill 10 million people by 2030. All this is about opening up opportunities for young people. However, we want to make sure that no stone is left unturned. Last month, the Government unveiled our national youth strategy, which is backed by £500 million. It will rebuild the youth services that the Conservative party decimated, and help more young people transition into adulthood. The Secretary of State has commissioned Alan Milburn to complete a wide-ranging investigation into the causes of youth inactivity, and to come up with policy solutions across the piece. As a former Health Secretary, he is well placed to give particular focus to the role of health in all this. That is needed, because over a quarter of young people not in employment, education or training now cite long-term sickness or disability as a barrier—more than double the figure in 2013-14. Too many people are shut out of the labour market by disability or ill health. This has worsened, especially since covid, so we are rolling out a £1 billion Pathways to Work offer, which brings together programmes such as Connect to Work, which my hon. Friend the Member for Dartford (Jim Dickson) referred to and which I have seen in action in Lewisham, where I met a neurodiverse young man who told me that the personalised support that he was receiving from the team was helping him to stay in work; and WorkWell, which is providing really impressive integrated work and health support that I recently had a chance to see in Cambridge. Pathways to Work will ultimately guarantee access to work, health and skills support for disabled people and those with long-term health conditions who are claiming out-of-work benefits. We already have 1,000 Pathways to Work advisers on hand to provide better one-to-one support. We know that prevention is better than cure, so we want to avoid people falling out of work due to ill health wherever possible, and employers have a unique role to play.

• 28 Jan 2026 · Youth Unemployment · Hansard source

  More

  I will come on to talk a little about some of the accusations levelled at the Government in relation to national insurance contributions, so I shall deal with that point later in my speech, if I may. The youth hubs will offer a helping hand, whether with writing a CV or with obtaining a work placement to include on a CV. We have announced that over the next three years, we will invest £820 million to support almost 900,000 young people who are on universal credit and looking for work. There will be new dedicated work support sessions, followed by intensive, tailored assistance to help those young people secure the right job, training or learning opportunity. We are backing that up by funding about 300,000 more opportunities for people to gain work experience and training in sectors such as construction and hospitality.

• 28 Jan 2026 · Youth Unemployment · Hansard source

  More

  The right hon. Gentleman, who is a close neighbour in East Yorkshire, says that I am being partial and only giving part of the picture. I think I have been setting out a very full explanation of what the Conservatives delivered for young people over 14 years. To expand on that point a little, the Conservatives are now talking about the need to increase apprenticeships, for example. On their watch, there was a collapse in youth apprenticeships—starts were down by almost 40% under the Conservative Government over the past decade, leaving this Labour Government to reverse that decline. They have also been critical of the welfare system for trapping people out of work; they seem to have forgotten that they presided over it for 14 years. The Conservatives introduced that system, and it has now been left to us to address the disincentive to work that they built into it. We started to deal with that task through the Universal Credit Act last year.

• 28 Jan 2026 · Youth Unemployment · Hansard source

  More

  No, I will make some progress. Put simply, the Conservatives cut off opportunity for young people. They wrote them off, and then they blamed young people for the position they were in. On the Government Benches, we know that young people are this country’s future and that their success is Britain’s success. We are not prepared to sit on our hands and let all that talent and potential go unused. That is not good enough for those young people, and it is not good enough for this country, which needs the contribution they can offer more than ever and not just now, but for the next 40 years.

• 26 Jan 2026 · Support into Work: Health Conditions · Hansard source

  More

  Good work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work. Through our Pathways to Work guarantee, which is will be backed by £1 billion a year of new funding by the end of the decade, and our Connect to Work supported employment programme, more disabled people and people with health conditions will be supported to enter and stay in work.

• 26 Jan 2026 · Support into Work: Health Conditions · Hansard source

  More

  I am grateful to my hon. Friend for talking about the WorkWell pilot. When I attended a recent WorkWell session in Cambridge, I was really impressed. Following the success of the pilots, which have so far supported more than 25,000 people, WorkWell will expand across all of England, backed up by a £259 million investment over three years, and could support up to 250,000 people into work. Participants receive proactive early support based on their health-related barriers to employment, such as mental health issues, musculoskeletal problems and other long-term health issues.

• 26 Jan 2026 · Support into Work: Health Conditions · Hansard source

  More

  The hon. Gentleman mentions an important scheme that enables people to move into work and stay in work. It is right to say that that there have been some issues with Access to Work. More resources have gone in to ensure that those who are moving into work in particular are prioritised by the scheme. I am sure that the Minister for Social Security and Disability, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Sir Stephen Timms), who leads on Access to Work, can write to the hon. Gentleman with further detail on what more we are doing.

• 26 Jan 2026 · Support into Work: Health Conditions · Hansard source

  More

  As I just set out to the hon. Member for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe (David Chadwick), there have been some problems with Access to Work, but it is this Government who are dealing with them. We have already put in resources, with a particular focus on individuals who are moving into work to make sure they get access to whatever support they need. Again, I am very happy to provide further details of what additional support we have put in, but it is this Government who are actually dealing with these problems and ensuring that people with disabilities and long-term health conditions have what they need to support them into work and to keep them in work.

• 26 Jan 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for the meeting that we had on this very subject just a few months ago and for raising the issue of how important it is to get people back into work. There are lots of good examples of GPs who are doing that around the country, and I look forward to seeing what more we can do to work with him and other GPs to ensure that we get as many people as possible back into work who are not in work at the moment due to ill health.

• 26 Jan 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  I meet my colleagues in the Health and Social Care Department regularly, particularly because of the important work that the joint work and health directorate is doing to get people into work and to support people with health conditions in work, including those with chronic mental health conditions. Our employment advisers in talking therapies specifically target people with mental health conditions.

• 26 Jan 2026 · Cost of Living: Support for Families · Hansard source

  More

  We recognise that too many homes in England struggle to afford heating, and tackling fuel poverty is a Government priority. On 21 January, we published a new fuel poverty strategy, alongside the warm homes plan, to better protect fuel-poor households by 2030. At Budget 2025, we cut energy bills by an average of £150 and expanded the warm home discount, providing £150 rebate to a further 2.7 million low-income households.

• 26 Jan 2026 · Cost of Living: Support for Families · Hansard source

  More

  I thank my hon. Friend for his question on this important issue for the Government. Action to support families includes raising the national living wage, expanding access to free school meals and tripling investment in breakfast clubs. Removing the two-child limit in universal credit will benefit 1.5 million children across Great Britain, including over 2,500 children in Bolton West. We have also implemented the fair repayment rate for deductions from universal credit and announced a new £1 billion a year package to reform crisis support.

• 26 Jan 2026 · Cost of Living: Support for Families · Hansard source

  More

  As I said, we lifted the two-child limit in the child poverty strategy. We know that will lift about 450,000 children out of poverty. Combined with all the other measures that we have set out, including on free school meals and so on, we think that about 550,000 children will be lifted out of poverty. That is against the backdrop of the 900,000 children who went into poverty during the time of the Conservative Governments from 2010 onwards. Of course, we speak all the time to the Scottish Government, and we will continue to have conversations about how we can deal with child poverty.

• 26 Jan 2026 · Jobcentres: English Courses · Hansard source

  More

  I thank my hon. Friend for her interest and her visit to Tipton Jobcentre Plus, and for her kind words about the staff there. Jobcentre Plus in Tipton has been reviewing local ESOL availability. It is welcoming work with the combined authority to look at expanding provision, to ensure that demand is met and so that more claimants can move into work.

• 26 Jan 2026 · Jobcentres: English Courses · Hansard source

  More

  Jobcentre Plus offers tailored, flexible advice and support to help individuals get into work and overcome any barriers to employment. Work coaches offer all claimants a comprehensive menu of help, including referral to skills provision and job search support. That can include referral to local ESOL provision.

• 6 Jan 2026 · Poverty and Welfare Policies · Hansard source

  More

  It is a pleasure, as ever, to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Poole (Neil Duncan-Jordan) on securing the debate. He spoke with great passion and knowledge about how poverty affects the individual, the family and society at large. The real-world impact is where that really matters, as he just said. My hon. Friend spoke in his maiden speech about the nearly 7,000 residents of Poole who struggle to cover essential costs from their monthly income. In his career in Parliament, he has continued to be a strong advocate for his constituents and for the disadvantaged in our society. He has rightly pointed out that poverty is both unfair and economically reckless, and that one of the most important legacies that we could achieve as a Labour Government is a massive reduction in poverty. My hon. Friend highlighted the devastation caused by 14 years of Tory Governments to the fabric of our society and the rising levels of poverty, in particular the cost of living that we inherited from the previous Government. To start, I refer to the child poverty strategy, which was published only last month. Under the previous Government, a shocking 900,000 more children were added to the statistics for those living in poverty. The aim of our strategy is to lift 550,0000 children out of poverty by the end of this Parliament. It is rightly a cross-Government strategy, but welfare policies clearly play a crucial part, not least the lifting of the two-child limit. I am proud that we are getting rid of that cruel policy, which affects nearly 2,000 children in Poole, 6,000 children in the Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch local authority area, and 1.5 million children in Great Britain overall. I was touched when I spoke with several stakeholders, including the Trussell Trust, following the announcement of the removal of the two-child limit on Budget day, because they gave me the breadth and depth of insight that comes from working with those families day in, day out. Hearing their views of how the change will be felt on the ground was humbling and hugely helpful to me. Our strategy builds on the urgent action that we have taken already to help families since we first entered Government, which has included expanding free school meals to reach half a million more families on universal credit, our new £842 million crisis and resilience fund to reform crisis support in England, expanding free breakfast clubs, and investing in Best Start family hubs to deliver early intervention and support for new parents. We recognise that tackling the causes of poverty and delivering an enduring reduction to child poverty will take time. That is why we have been clear from the start that this will be a long-term, 10-year strategy. We have put in place structures, including a monitoring and evaluation framework, and cross-Government ministerial oversight to ensure that the strategy will deliver and that we can build on its success in future. We know that the welfare system needs continuous reform to ensure that it supports the people who need it and is a platform for opportunity. Our welfare system is not a museum; since its creation, it has adapted and changed as society has adapted and changed, in recognition of the new challenges we face. I want to address some of the points that my hon. Friend made. As the Minister for employment, I will say a few words about employment. We know that employment plays a vital role in lifting families out of poverty and in securing better long-term outcomes for children. That is why supporting good work will always be the foundation of our approach, and it is backed by increasing investment for employment support to £3.8 billion by 2028-29, so that people have the help they need to move into and to get on in work. That includes our plans to reform Jobcentre Plus and create a new service across Great Britain that will enable everyone to access good, meaningful work, and support them to progress in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers. My hon. Friend also talked a little about in-work poverty, and we know that low pay is a key factor. Our plan to make work pay will help more people to stay in work and will improve job security and boost living standards. From April this year, the national living wage will increase to £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over—an increase of £900 a year for a full-time worker on the national living wage. Access to suitable childcare has for too long been a barrier to progression for many parents. That is why we will invest £9 billion next year in policies such as creating new school-based nurseries and, as I have just said, rolling out free breakfast clubs. A cross-Government review of childcare is also under way, because we recognise that the current system is very complex for parents to navigate. We also want to go further, so that every parent who can work will be able to enjoy the benefit of rewarding, secure jobs that enable them to support their families. Our ambitious labour market interventions include our inactivity trailblazers in England and Wales, skills bootcamps and the adult skills fund, which will provide a step change in the support that parents receive to help them progress in—as well as move into—work.

• 6 Jan 2026 · Poverty and Welfare Policies · Hansard source

  More

  I am grateful to the hon. Lady for raising that point. I will take the opportunity to reflect on what she has said and write to her with a response. I will move on because I have only limited time, and there are quite a few other things I want to say. My hon. Friend the Member for Poole also referred to welfare reform more generally. I reassure him that the “Pathways to Work” Green Paper builds on the principle that Government should support those who can work to do so, while protecting those who cannot. We have already made significant progress in bringing forward proposals from the Green Paper to transform the support that we offer. We are taking action to get the basics right and improve the experience for people who use the system of health and disability benefits, as set out in the Green Paper. That includes exploring ways to improve trust and transparency in the personal independence payment and the work capability assessments, by reviewing our approach to safeguarding, recording assessments to increase trust in the process and moving back to more face-to-face assessments, while continuing to meet the needs of people who may require different methods of assessment. Of course, we also have the Timms review under way. As a result of our changes, there will be 50,000 fewer individuals in relative poverty after housing costs in 2029-30. That includes a reduction in poverty for both children and working-age individuals. I want to mention universal credit and its adequacy, as well as the essentials guarantee that a number of Members have spoken about. We know that people are struggling, and we understand the critical role of universal credit in tackling poverty and maintaining work incentives. Since April 2025, our fair repayment rate has reduced the overall deductions cap from 25% to 15% of a customer’s standard allowance, allowing approximately 1.2 million universal credit households to retain more of their award for essential living costs. We have also gone further by taking decisive action to address the basic adequacy of the universal credit standard allowance through the first sustained above-inflation rise in the basic rate of universal credit since it was introduced. That change will benefit millions of people when it is introduced in April, while maintaining the right balance between supporting those who need it, incentivising work and providing value for the taxpayer. My hon. Friend also referred to the benefit cap. Removing the two-child limit is the fastest and most cost-effective way to reduce child poverty and will, on its own, lift 450,000 children out of poverty by the end of this Parliament. However, it is absolutely right that we balance maintaining a strong safety net for those who need it with encouraging personal responsibility and incentivising work wherever possible. Working people are much less likely to be affected by the benefit cap, which we will review at the appropriate time and as determined by the Secretary of State, in line with the statutory obligation to review the levels at least once every five years. My hon. Friend gave the shocking statistic about a food parcel being handed out every 11 seconds. This Government absolutely agree that the number of people having to rely on food parcels is far too high, which is why we made a manifesto commitment to end mass dependency on emergency food parcels. As I have already said, our child poverty strategy and the crisis and resilience fund, along with renewed funding of £600 million for the holiday activities and food programme, will be a vital contribution to tackling such an important issue. I am also working closely with the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs on this matter, and will meet with my ministerial counterpart at DEFRA tomorrow to discuss shared priorities. I would also be very happy to meet with my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool West Derby (Ian Byrne) to discuss the work he is doing. I know he has a long-standing interest in food poverty. In the few minutes I have left, I will talk about international comparators, particularly around state pensions. It is difficult to make meaningful comparisons between state pension schemes in different countries because there are many fundamental differences in the way they are run and operated. There are many factors to take into account, such as different tax systems, the cost of living, access to occupational pensions, the availability of other social security benefits and the provision of services and goods, either free to pensioners or available at a concessionary rate. The UK pension system balances sustainability and adequacy with the foundation of a contributory state pension, on which private retirement savings can be built, as well as an income-related safety net for those most in need. Workers can choose to make voluntary contributions to private or occupational pension schemes to increase their retirement income. Data from the OECD’s “Pensions at a Glance 2025” report shows that the UK’s public expenditure on pensions is lower than the average of other OECD countries. Furthermore, when Full Fact investigated the claim that the UK state pension is the lowest in the EU, it concluded that the comparison is not fair because of the differences between pension systems. In closing, our manifesto committed to building on the legacy of the last Labour Government, which lifted more than 600,000 children and more than a million pensioners out of poverty. It promised to put good work at the heart of our approach. We are building a welfare system that is much more active in giving people opportunities not just to get by, but to get on in life. Importantly, we are making sure these reforms are accompanied by our wider efforts to put in place the right opportunities, incentives and support—by creating good jobs, by making work pay, including through our landmark Employment Rights Act 2025, which will benefit more than 15 million people, and by overhauling employment support, so that people get personalised support to overcome the individual barriers they face getting into work. Through all those changes, we can turn the tide on poverty, making a real, lasting difference to people’s lives and building a fairer, more prosperous country. Question put and agreed to .

• 17 Dec 2025 · Neurodiversity in the Workplace · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend speaks with great knowledge of this area. Showing our commitment to raising awareness of neurodiversity, ACAS will be offering free masterclasses to small and medium-sized employers in early 2026, which goes to the point that the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) made about small businesses being able to access information. As we all know, ACAS specialises in providing free, impartial advice on workplace rights, rules and best practice. Earlier this year, we worked closely with its campaign to improve understanding and support for neurodivergent workers. The new free masterclasses will go further, helping small and medium-sized employers to build confidence, acknowledge the skills and expertise needed to support neurodivergent employees, and address the challenges those employees can face, such as barriers in recruitment, workplace adjustments and retention. We are also setting in motion a broader mission to deliver change through the “Keep Britain Working” review, led by Sir Charlie Mayfield, which represents a pivotal moment in our mission to create genuine opportunity for all, fundamentally reshaping how we support people to stay healthy, stay in work and build better futures for themselves and their families. We know that successful businesses and healthy workers go hand in hand, and the vanguard phase of “Keep Britain Working” is seeking partnership with employers to establish what good looks like. “Keep Britain Working” recommends developing a healthy working life cycle of best practice accompanied by a certified standard. Although it is not condition-specific, it will include best practice for early conversations between employers and employees about specific needs, and supporting all parties to navigate making the best adjustments where reasonable. We know that supporting employers is central if we are to see real improvement in this area. That is why, in addition to our work with ACAS, we also have a suite of measures in place to support managers. We want to start making changes to ensure that we are maximising the opportunities to create accessible and inclusive workplaces for all. We continue to oversee the voluntary Disability Confident scheme, which encourages employers to create disability-inclusive workplaces, including for people with hidden disabilities. My colleague the Minister for Social Security and Disability is leading work to strengthen that scheme to help it realise its full potential. My hon. Friend the Member for Warrington South raised Access to Work. We absolutely agree that it needs to work better, and we are doing something about that. We recently concluded the Access to Work collaboration committees, in which we engaged with a range of stakeholders, including representatives of disabled people’s organisations and people with lived experience, to provide discussion, experience and challenge to the design of the future Access to Work scheme. Although the committees have now ended, we will seek opportunities to engage with stakeholders as we move forward with policy development in recognition of the value of their input and experience. I want to say a few words about the support in place for neurodivergent people who face barriers to getting into work. We know that disabled people and people with health conditions are a very diverse group, so the right work and health support in the right place at the right time is absolutely vital. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including initiatives to join up employment and health systems. They include our new voluntary, locally led supported employment programme for neurodivergent people, the Connect to Work scheme, which has a specialist pathway that is dedicated to supporting those facing particularly complex barriers. In our jobcentres across England, Scotland and Wales, since August there have been more than 1,000 full-time equivalent Pathways to Work advisers, who provide one-to-one, personalised support to disabled customers and those with health conditions to help them move towards and into work. That intensive support aims to enable disabled people, including neurodivergent people, to gain access to employment, wider skills support and Department for Work and Pensions employment programmes. My hon. Friend asked about strengthening the Equality Act duty. That is a matter for the Cabinet Office, but I am of course very happy to relay her points to ministerial colleagues. My hon. Friend also raised diagnosis for neurodivergent people. The Equality Act is clear that an employee does not need a diagnosis to meet the definition of disability. Our digital support with employee health and disability service helps employers to understand these legal obligations. It includes guidance on making reasonable adjustments, and links to other helpful services and sources of guidance. It also includes questions of disclosure, equipping employers to feel confident in having conversations to better understand their employees’ needs. We are deeply concerned that many adults, young people and children with mental health conditions, ADHD and autism have been let down by services and are not receiving timely or appropriate support and treatment. I am therefore very pleased to welcome the independent review, launched by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on 4 December, into prevalence and support for mental health conditions, ADHD and autism. My hon. Friend the Member for Warrington South also asked about neurodiversity in the public sector. I absolutely agree that the public sector should lead the way in raising awareness of neurodiversity. I am pleased to say that more than 700 public sector organisations are signed up to the Disability Confident scheme, and that all main ministerial Departments have achieved Disability Confident leader status at level 3. We are also committed to ensuring that our frontline staff have the skills and awareness to support neurodivergent people appropriately. There is a range of other commitments in place, and I am happy to write to my hon. Friend about them. My hon. Friend raised workforce data. Our main source of data is the annual population survey, which does not contain detailed breakdowns of neurodivergent conditions beyond autism and learning difficulties, so we have limited data on employment outcomes for specific neurodivergent conditions. I will write to my hon. Friend with further details about that. On self-advocacy, my hon. Friend will be pleased to know that the new independent disability advisory panel will provide that lived experience and make sure that policies take it into account. Zara Todd was appointed the chair of the panel in August. I am keen to show that this Government are taking action. We hear what people are saying about the need to address the particular concerns of neurodivergent people. Finally, I wish all hon. Members and House staff a very merry Christmas. Motion lapsed (Standing Order No. 10(6)).

• 17 Dec 2025 · Neurodiversity in the Workplace · Hansard source

  More

  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Twigg. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Warrington South (Sarah Hall) on securing the debate and her powerful and eloquent speech. A number of excellent interventions made important points. I have noted them, even if I do not have the chance to respond to them all. My hon. Friend has previously spoken about her ADHD diagnosis and her determination to use her platform to make Parliament, and politics more generally, more welcoming for neurodiverse people. I am pleased that she has given us the opportunity to talk about how we can achieve that in other workplaces across the country too. At the moment, only 34% of autistic people, for example, are in any sort of employment, compared with around 55% of disabled people overall. As a country, we can and must do better. My hon. Friend is living proof that neurodiversity does not have to be a barrier to achievement, but as she has previously highlighted, the right support makes a huge difference, whether in education or the workplace. It is important that good practice becomes standard practice—not only does everyone deserve the chance to fulfil their potential, but a more inclusive labour market is a stronger labour market. I will endeavour to answer her questions, but if I miss anything, I am very happy to write to her with further details. This January, we launched an independent panel of academics, chosen because of their expertise and lived experience of neurodiversity, to consider why neurodivergent people can have poor experiences in work and a low overall employment rate. I am grateful to the panel for their dedication and the evidence they gathered, which will help us—both the Government and employers—to understand how we can improve the workplace experiences of neurodivergent people. The panel was led by Professor Amanda Kirby, who I am pleased to be meeting tomorrow to discuss her recommendations. I am also pleased to hear about the excellent work that unions have been undertaking in this area, the GMB and USDAW in particular, to expand the understanding of neurodiversity in the workplace.

• 8 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  I agree with my hon. Friend. It is shocking that during the previous Government some 900,000 children were allowed to get into poverty. The cost of that will be borne by us all, which is why the investment now will pay dividends in the future.

• 8 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  I absolutely agree. We all know that child poverty stifles opportunity, making it harder for children to succeed and get on in life. Nearly 1 million young people aged 16 to 24 are not in education, employment or training. We need to break that cycle, and we will do so through the child poverty strategy.

• 8 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. The transformation of our jobs and career service will provide wraparound support to individuals who are looking for work or career development. We want to change the feel of jobcentres so that they are about supporting people, rather than having people go in just to comply with benefit conditions.