Equality Bill

My Lords, I strongly support government Amendment 106B and the amendments in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Low. As he said, qualifications are vital to disabled people; they are the major gateway to gaining employment. Of those disabled people without qualifications, only 23 per cent are employed—which compares starkly with 60 per cent for non-disabled people—and yet disabled people are twice as likely as non-disabled people to have no qualifications at all. Looking at the figures for educational achievement of deaf young people, I am struck by how many are failing to achieve their potential. Government figures show that in 2008, 72 per cent of deaf students failed to achieve the Government’s benchmark of five GCSEs at grades A* to C, including English and maths. It is vital that we do everything we can to break down the barriers facing deaf and disabled young people, including those which exist in the examination system. The Government have taken action in this area in the past few years to clarify the law, but there continue to be concerns and there are still reports of problems over exams. For instance, deaf students are not being provided with transcripts for video or radio tapes, or being given extra time to lip read instructions. A particular example involved a deaf student being asked in an English exam to describe how it felt to be a fan of a music group. The question completely threw him and lowered his confidence for the rest of the exam. When a complaint was made that the question was inappropriate and unfair, the examining bodies refused to accept that the question would disadvantage a student who had no experience of listening to music. It is clear that disabled students are still being let down by the examining bodies and I hope that the Government will accept the amendments.