Local MP Highlights Importance Of Reforms To Apprenticeships For People With A Learning Disability

North Swindon MP and former Minister for Disabled People, Justin Tomlinson, has highlighted the important reforms to apprenticeships which will support disabled people and those with a long-term health condition during a debate in Parliament.

The vital role of apprenticeships is summed up in the fact that 90% of those who complete one will go on either to work or to further training. That compares well with the 80% of the working age population in work, and 48%, which is the percentage of people with a disability who are employed—up 4% but still considerably less than 90%. However just over 6% of people with a learning disability are likely to hold down long-term paid work.

During his time as Minister, Justin ordered an urgent review of apprenticeships for disabled people to ensure that people with a learning disability had greater access to this path to employment. The taskforce concluded that to improve the system, people with a learning disability should be exempted from the requirement to achieve Grade C in GCSE Maths and English, which for too many of those young adults was a hurdle too great, as well as strengthening individual learner records and increasing provider awareness of excellent schemes including Access to Work.

The Government accepted the recommendations of the taskforce and Justin has called on the Skills Minister to ensure that the reforms are urgently put into practice.

Justin Tomlinson MP said: "Apprenticeships play a vital role in giving people the opportunity it to learn new skills, experience the workplace and gain a high-quality qualification. While they have been hugely successful, more needed to be done to increase access to apprenticeships for people with a learning disability. That's why as Minister I launched an urgent review into access to apprenticeships and accepted the findings of this review. These reforms will break down barriers to employment for people with a learning disability and I will continue to push the Government to put the recommendations into practice as quickly as possible!"

You can read the recommendations the Government accepted via: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeships-improving-access-for-people-with-learning-disabilities/paul-maynard-taskforce-recommendations