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Lord Elton: I am certainly not yet an expert in dyslexia and the noble Lord, Lord Addington, has already forgotten more about it than I shall ever know, particularly aided by his short-term memory deficiency, in which I am rapidly joining him. He has made it clear that dyslexia starts a person’s life in a morass of frustration and misunderstanding. I can add that it contributes significantly to disturbances in classrooms, where children who are perhaps as clever as the teacher—and certainly as clever as anyone else in the class—are treated as cloth heads because they keep asking questions to which everyone knows the answer. This has an effect on their character which goes on to colour the
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In its third report of the current Session, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee estimated that there were 5.2 million functionally illiterate people in the British population, which, as the noble Lord, Lord Addington, said, amounts to 10 per cent. One would expect that 10 per cent to be more affected by dyslexia than the remainder because of the handicap which it places on them. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that in prison the incidence of dyslexia is remarkably higher. The estimates range from 31 per cent at the bottom end to 50 per cent at the top end of the entire English and Welsh prison population which, I remind the Committee, is no less than 83,000 people. That means that there are between 27,730 and 41,201 people with dyslexia in prison at this time. I repeat “at this time” because this is a moving population. We are looking at a pipe, not a system. There is a continual flow of people into prison—some for the second and third time—and they form, therefore, an identifiable and targetable section of the population which suffers from a disability that we are motivated, not only out of economics but out of compassion, to address.
It so happens that the population outside prison is not at present screened for dyslexia—and in that word I embrace the seven related conditions, but the principal one is dyslexia. There is a little point of entry into the Prison Service where they could be screened, which would pick up those who most need treatment and help and who have already missed it. I understand that next year or possibly the year after, anybody applying for benefits will be screened for dyslexia and related disabilities. I would be grateful if the Minister could confirm that that is the case and that it is on track. Up to that time, I suggest that this is the only immediate access for remedial work.
In 2003, the Government handed the job of providing education, particularly remedial education in prisons, to the Learning and Skills Council, which rolled out pilot schemes in three areas in England and in 2006 rolled them out over the whole country under the aegis of the Offenders’ Learning and Skills Service. The difficulties of engaging two major arms of the state together—this organisation and the Prison Service—are manifestly enormous. OLASS has to provide the educators and the programme and the prisons have to provide the accommodation and, crucially, the prisoners. They also have to arrange for prisoners to appear in court, to be transferred to other prisons and to have family visits. They have a difficult administrative job, which I regret to say I do not think has sufficient priority in their service.
Will the Minister ask his relevant colleagues to look to it that the finding and helping of dyslexic people in prison—identifying them on the way in and giving
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Having said what I have with some restraint, I shall read a couple of paragraphs of what the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee said in another place about this new scheme for the transfer of education out of the Prison Service. The document was published on 30 October 2008 and accompanies the committee’s 47th report of the previous Session. The chairman said:
“The Offenders' Learning and Skills Service was set up to overcome long-standing problems in the delivery of skills and learning for offenders. In practice, it has failed in almost every respect ... Funding is distributed between prisons without reference to need. A quarter of prisoners have no screening or assessment for learning and skills”—
- “making it very difficult to plan useful provision. There are no consistent records of the progress which individual prisoners make on their courses and the lack of a core curriculum also means that offenders moved from one prison to another can find themselves unable to continue their courses”.
That may not be quite so germane to what I am saying, because these courses are very much easier to structure and to transfer. The chairman goes on to say that,
- “much more needs to be done to equip offenders with skills which realistically prepare them for jobs in the local labour market ... The different agencies involved in this, including the Learning and Skills Council, the Prison Service and the Department, must work together to sort out this counterproductive and wasteful situation”.
It is difficult to distil more powerfully the situation as seen by a senior committee of Parliament five months ago. I hope that the noble Lord will be able to assure us—he will not be able to give us an answer from the relevant departments—that he will remind the departments of those words and of the interest in this House in pursuing the matter until it is put right.
Baroness Thomas of Winchester: My noble friend has raised an important question—
The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord Faulkner of Worcester): I am sorry to interrupt the noble Baroness, but the noble Baroness, Lady Verma, has given notice of her intention to speak at this stage.
4.21 pm
Baroness Verma: I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Addington, and I agreed with almost everything that he said. The noble Lord is a great expert in this matter, but I am extremely passionate about ensuring that all our citizens are treated fairly and equally.
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Dyslexia affects around 10 per cent of the UK population in varying degrees. Sadly, there continues to be a failure for many to have dyslexia diagnosed early on in their lives. For many adults with learning disabilities, the problems are compounded when they seek work, whether part-time or full-time. There is no one definition for dyslexia. However, it is clear that dyslexics have neither a disease, nor low intelligence. All dyslexics are different, but all share common symptoms. With no clear definition, it is not always easy to understand why bright, gifted and intelligent people struggle with the written or spoken language.
For most of us, having to face being told that either we or our children have a disability, not surprisingly, causes great distress. For many people trying to cope with dyslexia or learning disabilities leaves families feeling isolated, unhappy and sometimes ashamed to talk about it. Immense emotional strain on family life is inevitable. No parent finds it easy to think that their child, when an adult, will have an uncertain future, so there is no doubt that, even though progress has been made, so much more needs to be done.
I, like many noble Lords, believe very much that where it is possible and sensible we should ensure that young people have as much of their education in mainstream processes as possible, fully integrated with the whole community. However, where I part company with the Government is on their insistence on the wholesale closure of special educational schools, which has led to a rise in children with learning disabilities suffering horrendous bullying at the hands of fellow students. Name calling, teasing and instigating whispering campaigns are as evil and wrong as physical abuse. This will almost certainly have an impact on how confident and prepared those young people are for adult life.
I know that teachers are under huge pressures to meet targets and inspection regimes, so I wonder whether the Minister can say with certainty whether all teachers are able to identify dyslexia and respond to the specialist support needed for those with dyslexia and learning disabilities. Is the Minister able to say with confidence that all places of education, from those for infants to those for college-age students, have the ability to respond to any form of abuse that may occur?
I suspect that few people are aware that dyslexia is a disability recognised under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. We must therefore look to services that people with dyslexia can turn to for support and for appropriate advice to reach employers. If this is to happen, however, there must be clear understanding and proper training for professionals such as occupational health nurses, who can assist both employers and employees in fulfilling their duties under the DDA. Of course, there are implications of the level of severity of the disability for the impact that it can have on work performance, but on the flip side, there are also huge strengths, such as visual thinking, creativity and artistic ability. Sadly, if we are to measure skills and intelligence
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The other group is those with learning disabilities. Their needs are different but, again, through training and support we can often ensure that a great many of them play an active role in our society.
I shall concentrate my remarks on the excellent work undertaken by the ROSE project in Havering. ROSE stands for realistic opportunities for supported employment, and it works with employers, colleges and families. ROSE was set up by two mothers who were parents of children with learning disabilities. They soon realised that, once out of education, as adults there was little support to help them to gain useful employment, if any employment at all.
Members of your Lordships’ House have met some of the young people and their families whose lives have been transformed by the ROSE project. It has helped to provide them with the opportunity to gain supported paid employment for sometimes as little as four hours a week. One parent told me that the satisfaction that his daughter felt at the age of 25 at waking up and getting ready to go to work had transformed the whole family. Therefore, it is really quite disappointing to know that this remarkable project has difficulties in accessing funding because—the Minister can correct me if I am wrong—under current rules a person has to work a minimum of 16 hours to receive any benefits or support. For some people who may have greater learning difficulties, that may not always be possible to achieve. I hope that the Minister will be minded to speak to his departmental colleagues to see whether this matter can be addressed.
My own business is in social care, providing support to individuals to live independently. It is right that all should enjoy choice and we find that, where people with disabilities are supported at an early age, they are of huge net benefit to our communities.
I conclude with a few questions to the Minister. Can he say how many funded diagnostic assessments the Dyslexia Institute and local dyslexic action centres made in the past five years? How much of the Access to Work budget do the Government plan to spend on dyslexic assessments and support in 2009-10? What support are the Government giving to employers to help them to recognise dyslexia? What percentage of people in the benefit system have had assessments for dyslexia? What are the Government going to do in order to train and employ dyslexic people so as to address current skills shortages? Finally, does the Minister have any data on how many employees have benefited from workplace consultation coaching in the past three years? I look forward to his response.
4.28 pm
Baroness Thomas of Winchester: My noble friend has raised a very important question, particularly with the welfare reform legislation which is now in place and that which will be rolled out in a continuous
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Disability employment advisers in Jobcentre Plus should be trained to recognise, for example, the difference between illiteracy and dyslexia. Jobcentre Plus offices see many clients with both problems. On the face of it, there are some similarities—perhaps with clients not being able to fill in forms by saying that they have left their spectacles at home. My noble friend has a degree in history from Aberdeen University, so he is hardly likely to be illiterate, but I hope that he will not mind my saying that he might have had difficulty in filling in forms in Jobcentre Plus offices, if he ever had to go there, when he was 18.
What might happen next in a Jobcentre Plus office when someone has gone through the process is that a personal adviser or a disability adviser might advise on a computer course or a learndirect course to improve literacy, as my noble friend said. That is very good for the right person but not for a person with a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia. Further down the line, contracted organisations often call the British Dyslexia Association’s helpline to ask where they can go for guidance in understanding and helping those with specific learning difficulties, specifically on where they can have a client assessed. A diagnosis can cost between £400 and £500.
My noble friend and the noble Lord, Lord Elton, spoke about Access to Work funding and the offer of free training by the British Dyslexia Association to train advisers, which has just been taken up by the Government. This indeed is very good news that we heard only yesterday. However, it is essential that Access to Work funding is appropriate. The British Dyslexia Association says that,
- “there is little practical use in giving a tree surgeon voice activated software when it would be more appropriate to spend the funding on helping him to read text messages”.
Autism is a hidden disability which affects people’s ability to interact and communicate socially. It is a spectrum condition and includes those with learning disabilities and those with postgraduate degrees. Those with Asperger’s syndrome can appear very able, yet face real difficulties in getting to appointments on their own, coping with a change to routine or performing well in interviews. It is estimated that only 15 per cent of adults known to have autism are in full-time employment, but many want to work and have a lot to offer employers, as many large firms have discovered.
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Jobcentre Plus staff, particularly disability employment advisers, often have a poor understanding of autism and the barriers that people with autism face in the workplace. Advertisements often ask for “excellent communication skills”, which may not really be necessary, and which would rule out most people with autism. Another problem is jargon and acronyms, and here my blood starts to boil. Here is a good example of an advertisement:
“Database Administrator wanted. Candidates should have proven previous experience within the information arena that shows solid understanding of databases. Proven knowledge and experience using SAP. Excellent communication skills. High level of accuracy. Ability to interpret client requirements in order to provide them with maximum benefit”.
The job described would almost certainly suit someone with autism but would they be able to understand the advertisement itself? Here again, Jobcentre Plus staff, in particular disability employment advisers, need autism-specific training to enable them to recognise and meet the needs of people with autism.
I shall briefly touch on the hidden disability that is perhaps the most misunderstood, due to the mistaken belief in some quarters that the condition does not really exist. This is ME, or myalgic encephalomyelitis, which is a fluctuating condition during which a person can suffer extreme fatigue. Nearly all of us can point to someone we know who either suffers or has suffered from this condition. Do all Jobcentre Plus personal advisers or disability employment advisers know of this condition?
People with mental health problems who are deemed to be fit to work are seen by ordinary personal advisers in Jobcentre Plus offices who will expect them eventually to take part in work-related activities in return for benefit. Will enough personal advisers be trained to recognise these fluctuating mental health conditions and to know what the appropriate advice and guidance is for people with these problems? Will personal advisers base their guidance on an interview with a client or on the capability report received from a doctor? Evidence shows a lack of consistency; some personal advisers use one and some another. If interviews are used, they are often time-limited in order to reach the dreaded targets.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists and others in the mental health field are very concerned about the lack of adequate training for staff in Jobcentre Plus offices. It has asked whether the Government would consider setting some national competency standards that personal advisers should meet before they are given greater powers to direct and sanction claimants. Will there be any monitoring procedures in place to assess whether work-related activity prescribed by personal advisers is effective in improving the chances of employment for people with mental health problems?
All in all, there is a great deal of concern that training of staff in Jobcentre Plus offices must reach a much higher level now that they are in the front line of the big welfare reform agenda. This is particularly true for people with hidden disabilities so that they can be adequately helped. We know that there is bulk recruitment of Jobcentre Plus staff going on at the moment; the
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4.36 pm
Lord Skelmersdale: The Grand Committee should be extremely grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Addington, for bringing the subject of hidden disabilities to our attention yet again, although, unsurprisingly, his primary focus is dyslexia. The title of this debate covers all mental illnesses and some less obvious physical ones, too. It has been a particular pleasure to me that his debate has brought out of the woodwork one of my former temporary bosses of many years ago.
I read recently, and have no reason to disbelieve it, that 25 per cent of the population will suffer from a mental ailment before they die. My noble friend Lord Elton will correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that on average hidden disabilities apply to a horrendous 50 per cent of the prison population at any one time. The lucky ones—here I should declare an interest as having had measles encephalitis as a child—will be stricken and recover as children. For others, such as the noble Lord himself, it is a lifelong affliction. For yet others, such as ME sufferers, as highlighted by the noble Baroness, Lady Thomas of Winchester, if they recover they do so only after a considerable period of time.
According to the guidance in the “definitions of disability” part of the Disability Discrimination Act, in some cases people can mitigate the effects of their condition, but that is by no means a fail-safe. The mitigation may break down in certain circumstances. Normally, that strategy for coping would hide dyslexia or ME, for example, from potential or existing employers. If the employee is put under stress, that coping strategy may break down altogether, a point made strongly by the British Dyslexia Association, which goes on to point out that it is important to be flexible on the employee and employer side. Not only does the employee need to come clean and disclose details of the difficulties that they experience from their ailment, but employers and fellow employees need to have the ability to adapt. Moving their colleague to another, less stressful, job may be a way forward, as may removing part of their job. Even, as a very helpful brief from the mental health charity Mind pointed out, moving an employee to a quieter work environment can help. It is important for people with mental afflictions to feel that their condition is understood, and that when problems occur their neighbours, either in or outside the workplace, treat them with respect and consideration.
When we considered the Welfare Reform Bill in 2007, we all gave a lot of thought to the problems of mentally ill people within the context of the new employment and support allowance. The Minister will remember this well. We asked how on the one hand officials in Jobcentre Plus could ascertain how the client could receive either ESA or jobseeker’s allowance when they were unemployed. It was not long before we
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I was surprised that the noble Lord, Lord Addington, did not refer to the Starred Question he asked on 14 January. In answer to a supplementary from the noble Baroness, Lady Thomas of Winchester, on that occasion, the Minister said,
- “we must never be complacent. We need to continue to ensure that every adviser at the coal-face is aware not only of dyslexia but of a range of other conditions that disabled people endure”.—[Official Report, 14/1/09; col. 1219.]
I could not agree more. However, I and my colleague Mark Harper in another place are still getting complaints about the lack of training of face-to-face jobcentre personnel. It is all very well having a specialist adviser in each jobcentre, an objective that I believe has still not been totally achieved. It would be a miracle if that specialist were the original interviewing officer. What is desperately needed is for all interviewing officers to know when to call in the specialist adviser.
The background to this debate has been summed up by the noble Lord, Lord Layard, who has said that mental illness costs society £35 billion a year. It costs employers £9 billion a year, according to the Guardian’s mental health and employment fact sheet of 14 November 2007. The same publication claims that one-third of people with mental health problems have been dismissed or forced to resign from their jobs. They may well have cause to sue for constructive dismissal in that case, and I wonder if the Minister knows of any such prosecution. The fact sheet also says that up to 90 per cent of people with mental health problems want to work, a figure as high as, if not higher than, that among any group in the working-age population. We discover, regretfully, that only 20 per cent of people with severe mental health problems were employed in 1996-97, compared with 65 per cent of people with physical health problems and 75 per cent of the whole adult population. It would be useful if the Minister could update these figures in the light of the current recession.
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