On Thursday 24 April, Parliament debated The Buckland Review into Autism and Employment. Stephen welcomed the review and many of its findings while urging the Government to go further in helping people with autism into work.
People with autism have one of the lowest rates of employment of any group in the UK. Only three-in-ten autistic people wanting to work are in employment. This is despite the enormous contribution that people with autism can make - some statistics show autistic people can be between 45% and 145% more productive in the workplace.
The Buckland Review of Autism and Employment, led by Sir Robet Buckland KC MP, was released on 28 February. The Review investigated how the Government could boost the number of autistic people in work, make workplaces more friendly to them, and better harness their skills.
Parliament debated The Buckland Review into Autism and Employment on Thursday 24 April. Stephen spoke in the debate.
While welcoming the Review and its conclusions, Stephen urged the Government to go further, by aiming to increase the employment rate of people with autism to the employment rate of people with disabilities. He also pointed out flaws in Government programmes - like Disability Confident - that undermine the Government’s attempts to help autistic people in the workplace.
“The report rightly highlights the huge size of the autism employment gap,” Stephen said. “But, my fear is that a lack of ambition has regrettably marked the Government’s efforts on disability employment for some time.”
“As [Sir Robert Buckland] spells out with passion in his foreword, at the moment, we are ‘missing out on the skills and energy that autistic people could be contributing, to the detriment of us all.’”