B

Baroness Sherlock (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 28 October 2025

Debate

People with Disabilities: Employment

Contribution

I am grateful to the noble Lord, who makes a very important point. There has been an issue for some time—I am not telling him anything new; he knows it better than I do—around the transition between the support for young people when they are in school and the support when they get out of school. The bit that we can do something about is around funding to local authorities, which we are providing. A couple of weeks ago, we announced further funding of £167 million to roll out Connect to Work to nine further areas in England, and we expect all areas to be open by early next year. We are working with them to look at what they are providing, how they provide it, and how they tailor it to their local populations and job markets. If we can make a difference and get young people into work—I thought the example of Tom working in Waitrose, until things went wrong, was so interesting—then what is gained from them working is certainly money, but also self-respect, teamwork, a peer group and the chance to make a difference. If we can do that, it can be transformative.

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