Committees

The transition from education to employment for young disabled people - inquiry launch

2 August 2023

The Public Services Committee has launched a new call for evidence for its new inquiry, The transition from education to employment for young disabled people.

The Committee will be scrutinising how disabled young people transition into work from higher or further education and what challenges and barriers they face in doing so.

The Committee would like to hear from young disabled people, carers, public services employers and organisations and businesses recruiting or currently

Multiple formats

The Committee has produced the call for written evidence in multiple formats to ensure that it is accessible to as many people as possible. This includes Easy Read, audio, and British Sign language. Please use whichever you wish.

Questions

Topics the Committee is exploring include:

  • The support available for young disabled people and how effectively education systems provide careers advice, guidance and support to meet the needs and career aspirations of young disabled people.

  • The accessibility of careers in public services to young disabled people when they are first entering the job market: the Committee will ask for examples of good and poor practice in recruitment.

  • How effective are government programmes which support or encourage employers to employ disabled people, particularly young disabled people? Does this differ by condition or disability? How could they be improved?

  • How effectively are the rights of disabled people upheld and enforced in the workplace? What barriers do young disabled people face in accessing the support (including legal support) that they need and are entitled to? How could enforcement mechanisms be improved?

Chair’s comment

The Committee Chair, Baroness Morris of Yardley says:

"Disabled people are more likely to be unemployed or economically inactive than non-disabled people. And they face many barriers to entering the workplace, particularly for the first time.

“A key transition in young disabled people’s lives is leaving education and entering the workforce. This at a time of significant change already: that from services aimed at young people to services geared towards adults. We want to establish how well this works, and how it can be improved. And we want to know about careers support, and how well that is working.

“Disabled people are more likely to choose to work in the public sector than non-disabled people: and indeed the public sector should be a good example of inclusive employers. We would be interested in hearing about good and poor inclusive employment practices, and how best practice could become the norm, considering how employers operate in the UK and further afield: and how the rights of disabled people are enforced when things go wrong.

“We have produced this call for evidence so that it is as accessible as possible. We want to reach past the usual audience, and we hope that people – especially young disabled people - will tell us what they know."

The first evidence session of this inquiry was held on 7 June 2023: https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/13290/pdf/

The Committee wants everyone’s voices to be heard in Parliament. Please contact the committee if for any reason you find it difficult to send your written evidence online or if you need more time to submit.

To discuss your needs, you can email the Committee staff at: HLPublicservices@parliament.uk or call us on 020 7219 6154 (Text relay: 18001 0207 219 6154).

Deadline for submissions

You should send us your evidence through our website by
Thursday 21 September 2023

Further information

Image: Mikhail Nilov