Welfare Reform Bill

The noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, has given me permission to come in at this point to allow him to catch his breath from the Chamber. This is an important amendment, which we support. I urge the Government to listen hard to what the noble Lord, Lord Rix—who is such a long-standing expert in the field—says. As the noble Lord said, what those with learning disabilities need most from advisers in Jobcentre Plus is the right help and support for their personal disabilities. They need people who recognise what they can do and what they should not be expected to do in relation to work-related activity. This may not always be obvious to an adviser, which is why the training of Jobcentre Plus staff is so important. I hope that the Minister will fill us in on the training of staff in this field, as I think he promised to do at our last Sitting on Monday. Those with learning disabilities are likely to be particularly trusting of advisers, which is why it is so vital that the advisers are properly trained to understand their needs and give them adequate and individually tailored support in this area. It is a pity that the access-to-work scheme will not be available, as is presumably the case, because we are talking not about work but work-related activity. But something like the access-to-work scheme would be terrific for people with learning disabilities. I make no apology for mentioning that admirable organisation Thrive—I know that the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, knows it very well—which aims to help disabled people from local communities change their lives through gardening. Part of the work of the Battersea garden project, under the Thrive umbrella, aims to help those with learning difficulties to fulfil their potential in myriad ways, and eventually gain a qualification to enable some of them to obtain employment in horticulture. If those who are responsible for the training of Jobcentre Plus advisers in this field wish to see a practical example of the help that is being given in Battersea, I am sure that that could be arranged. Finally, I ask the Minister whether Mencap is involved in the training programme of Jobcentre Plus advisers.