Question reference: S5W-16384
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 3 May 2018 Registered interest
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Current status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 15 May 2018
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what measures are in place to support employers that employ people, including apprentices, with autism.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to reduce by more than half, the disability employment gap.
A number of specific actions, including those commitments undertaken since the launch of A Fairer Scotland for Disabled people in 2016 have been taken to support more disabled people into work including those with Autism. These include:-
- Support through Scottish Employer Recruitment Incentive (SERI) and Community Jobs Scotland (CJS) for private and third sector employers to help more young people who face barriers to employment, including Autism.
- Fair Start Scotland – our devolved employment service which will aim to support at least 38,000 people over 3 years of referrals. FSS commenced in April this year and disabled people are a specific priority group for support.
- Putting in place the highest amount of Modern Apprenticeship Funding for disabled people up to the age of 29;
- The launch by Skills Development Scotland of new digital guides for employers including the Employers’ Guide to Inclusive Recruitment
- Funding for the National Autistic Society’s ‘moving forward’ programme from the CashBack for Communities funds, helps target the specific barriers faced by autistic people – a necessary step in the pursuit of meaningful employment. This includes but is not limited to, awareness training for employers.
We recognise more needs to be done. At a Congress on Disability Employment and the Workplace, the First Minister announced the publication later this year of a Disability Employment Action Plan. This will set out the Cross-Government actions we will take towards achieving our long term ambition for more disabled people to be able to enter and sustain employment. We will work with disabled people and their representative bodies to develop this plan. Those supporting people with learning disabilities or difficulties will be a key part of that engagement.
We also recognise the key role employers have to play in this, so an initial key action also announced at Congress was up to £1m for business engagement and support, providing ready access to support for employers to recruit and retain disabled people.