Autism Bill
12:00 pm
Richard Bacon (South Norfolk, Conservative)
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for making that point and I shall conclude my remarks. In parenthesis, I have often heard Ministers make points under the general rubric of invest to save where they have not whistled inwardly as the Minister just appeared to do, so my hon. Friend’s argument is not inherently fallacious. In fact, it is quite the contrary, because it is relevant to the money resolution and to the reason why we are adjourning.
Furthermore, on the issue of employment, which the Minister mentioned earlier, I too heard on Second Reading that only 15 per cent. of people who have autistic spectrum conditions are in employment. I declare a personal interest, because my wife’s brother is diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome and has been in employment throughout his entire adult life. He is very proud of the work that he has done, and his employers have always been extremely proud of him as he has been an unusually diligent and conscientious worker in the jobs he has had.
If only employers looked more widely and laterally, and did more in terms of work placements to assess people rather than basing the process on interviews, which people with such conditions are not necessarily likely to be very good at, there are huge opportunities to improve the finances connected to the issue. My hon. Friend’s point about saving money is therefore relevant.