Debate contribution: Disability and Work Strategy

Debate contribution by Mr Gordon Lyons on 6 October 2025.

MLA

Mr Gordon Lyons

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

6 October 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Ministerial Statement

Heading

Disability and Work Strategy

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5157117

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I am grateful to the Member for his question. I understand the concerns that have been expressed about the Green Paper. Hopefully, Members across the Chamber will be aware of our efforts to encourage the UK Government to reconsider their proposals. While many of the initial proposals have been removed, the nature and impact of the remaining proposals are still unclear. The disability and work strategy does not propose any legislative changes or welfare reforms, but it offers employability support on a voluntary basis to disabled people and those with health conditions. What is important is that we support people into work and give them a helping hand rather than pulling the rug out from underneath them, which is exactly what, I think, the Labour Government are trying to do.

Employment law is still in place, and employers will be required to make sure that they treat their employees fairly and pay them the proper wage for their job. The Member can be assured that making sure that that is the case will be a focus of ours, because it would be outrageous if someone who was doing the full job were to be paid less simply because of their disability. I am trying to help people into employment, but that is certainly not so that they can be taken advantage of.

Absolutely. That is part of the wider work that we will do with employers to give them confidence to hire staff who are disabled and to show them how they can help current staff. I have seen first-hand in businesses that I have visited how employers can be helped to make minor changes — reasonable adjustments — that come at no cost or a relatively small cost but that open up huge opportunity for better productivity and an improved workforce. Broadly, we will help with what needs to take place for what is a culture change. Again, I do not see any of that as burdensome; rather, I see it as unlocking potential and opportunity for employees and employers.

Yes. I can confirm that disabled people have been part of the process at every stage and have been aware of the document. I draw the Member's attention to pages 8 and 9, where she will see endorsements from a number of groups that will be involved in this daily. The strong support that we have had from stakeholders and all those involved in the process is testament to how simple and straightforward it was to identify the challenges. There was no disagreement on those, nor was there much disagreement on what we need to do to make them right; I assure her of that. I emphasise again that the draft strategy is going out to consultation. I do not believe that it is the finished product. If we can make improvements to it, I absolutely want to see them happen.

The Member is absolutely right to raise the issue and, in doing so, to first make the distinction that people will be assisted into work. It is about helping, supporting and encouraging people, which is very different from the approach that the Labour Government have taken in their botched attempts to deal with those issues since they came into office. There will be huge benefit for the people who are helped into the programmes. We know the benefits of work. We know that it is important for people to get into work, with the impact that that can have on their physical and mental health and well-being and on their economic situation. That is why this is so positive. It will be beneficial for the individuals concerned, but it will also be beneficial for the employers that open themselves to another pool of talent, and, of course, it will be better for society as a whole.

That is the whole point of bringing forward the strategy: it is not a DFC strategy but a cross-departmental strategy. Departments have fed into the process to make sure that we work together. When the Member sees and, I hope, responds to the consultation on the strategy, she will see that there are some actions that we will be taking collectively with other Departments; other Departments will be doing things individually as well. There is significant work for the Department for the Economy to do. That can be seen throughout the document and particularly in relation to skills. I hope that this will just be the start of Departments working more closely together. These strategies matter. We saw that with the housing supply strategy, which led to an increased focus on developing relationships. The same needs to happen here. Members can see in the draft strategy, and will see in the action plans to follow, that there will be significant cross-departmental working to tackle some of the challenges that we face.

The intent of the sign language legislation is to ensure that there is greater access to public services in particular, and a better understanding of sign language. You will certainly see some interconnectedness with this. The Member will be aware that I am still considering next steps on what was called the sexual orientation strategy and the gender equality strategy. I will have further meetings about those this week and hope to be in a position to make an announcement soon.

There are a number of historical reasons for that, which are to do with some of the issues that we have relating to economic inactivity, poverty, social exclusion and health and well-being. That is why we are where we are. We need to bridge the gap, and that is exactly what the strategy aims to do by getting an additional 50,000 people into employment over the next 10 years. I would like it to be the best in the UK. We will certainly do everything that we can to achieve that, and we will change it if needs be. Fifty thousand more people into employment in the next 10 years is an ambitious target to start off with. To put that into context, that is the same as the number of people who are employed in the Northern Ireland Civil Service and the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust combined. It is ambitious, and we should all want to work together to bring Northern Ireland up to where the rest of the UK is.

I am grateful to the Member for raising that point, because it is important that we have that in place. It is one of the first of its kind, and it is the first time that we have done something like this in Northern Ireland.

It is important that it is in place, because I genuinely want to make sure that we monitor progress, that people are held to account, that failings are identified and that improvements can be suggested. I look forward to that being in place almost immediately following the launch of the final strategy, subject to consultation and Executive approval. It is important that we have oversight if for no other reason than we want to monitor progress so that we can change that target of 50,000 if needs be.

Absolutely. I will certainly submit bids, because we need to ensure that we have sufficient investment in it. By the way, it is investment: we will get a return on it. We will get a return because money will then not be spent on benefits and welfare and instead be spent on increased provision for those who are in employment. It is really important that we see that money as an investment. I certainly intend to put additional resource where it needs to be. I hope that Executive colleagues will follow suit and ensure that they put in the money that needs to go into it. Of course, we already spend tens if not hundreds of millions of pounds in the area. If some of that money can be diverted into something that is more beneficial and brings greater bang for the buck, I am happy to look at that as well, because we have an opportunity here to make a real difference. The strategy will be part of conversations that I have with counterparts in the UK Government, because, as is the case with what I am doing on welfare fraud and error, we often do the work and Treasury gets the benefit from that. It could be the same with this strategy: we can put in the investment and get more people into work, but the primary beneficiary of that in financial terms will be the Treasury. There should be sharing of that benefit so that we can reinvest it here and ensure that we help more people. That is what I intend to do. I will certainly not be found wanting when it comes to putting in that investment from my budget and baseline. I hope that Executive colleagues will help me out in that.

I would like to have seen the strategy launched much earlier, but I had to deal with the situation that I found when I came into the Department. I made it a priority to progress the strategy. Since I have been in office, we have had to allow the time to gather evidence, co-produce actions and quality-review its content. Actions are owned by multiple Departments as well, so I have had to ensure that we had Executive buy-in and support for future funding bids. I reassure the Member that we have got to this stage because I made it a priority. I wanted to ensure that we delivered it because I know the change that we can make and the real impact that we can have on people's lives. The House and the Executive get a lot of criticism for things that we do not do. I did not want that to be the case in this mandate. That is why we now have one of the most comprehensive strategies for disabled people that we have ever had. I will follow that up shortly with the wider disability strategy.

Obviously, we want the disability and work council to be as effective as possible, which is why we will ensure that it has access to the people and information that it needs to make the necessary recommendations. This is new for us and has been widely welcomed, so I want it to be a success. We will do everything that we need to do in that regard. On the Member's other question, I hope that we do not get into that circumstance, because, even if one or two things do not work, I would like to think that we will be able to find the help that individuals need. That is why it will be so tailored in the first instance, so that we are not going down the wrong path or doing something that does not work. It is about putting in the work early on to make sure that it is a success for all who need help.

Of course, all of those issues intersect. Improving people's mental health and well-being is really important, and I may have another announcement for the Member later today, if he would like to come back to the Chamber, where I will be able to give more information. For me, this is about priorities, and it is a priority for me to make sure that we can support and help people. That will require funding, and I am stepping up to the plate on that. I am prepared to get the funding that is necessary, and I am prepared to make the case to Executive colleagues and to the Treasury that this is an investment on which we will get a huge return and where we can prevent some of the other problems that people face. I often say that giving money to the Department for Communities can help all of the other Ministers in the Executive because of the positive impacts that we can have on people's lives early on. Getting into solid, sustained employment is a good way to help people with some of the mental health issues that they face, so I stand ready to do whatever I can and to work with whomever I need to work with to improve outcomes for people in Northern Ireland.

Absolutely. We have to lead by example, and it would be wrong of us, as an Executive, to ask employers to do something that we are not prepared to do ourselves. We have taken the lead on that. The Department of Finance has been involved in the development of the strategy, and, as an employer, it has set out its five-year people strategy that will ensure initiatives around guaranteed interview schemes, reasonable adjustment policies and training. I am delighted that, through the Department for Communities' JobStart programme, we have been able to support people into employment, including supporting people into the Northern Ireland Civil Service. I think that I have told this story before, but it is one of the things that have stayed with me most during my time in the Department. I met some of those who were helped through the JobStart scheme, including one individual who had autism and felt that the workplace was never going to be for him because he would never be able to fit in. However, he got a job working in the Civil Service in data input, and it was perfect for him. He loves it, and he told me how proud he was that he was able to get a job and to sustain employment. He said how proud his parents were that he had been able to do that. That is genuinely life-changing, and I am delighted that the Northern Ireland Civil Service is able to create such opportunities. There are so many people who have potential, talent and ability, but barriers — sometimes very small barriers — stop them getting into employment. I do not want that to be the case. Let us break those down and open up a reservoir of talent and potential. That is what I am determined to do.

I am grateful to the Member for her question and for the really important work that she has been doing for many years on behalf of people who have autism. It is important that the issues be raised and understood. To understand the issues with disability and work, we need to talk to others. We need to hear from those who are at the coalface: employers and those who have lived experience of disability. The strategy was co-produced with a diverse range of over 100 partners, from central and local government, the community and voluntary sector, employers and their representative bodies, statutory bodies such as the Equality Commission, and those with lived experience of disability, both individuals and organisations. We have therefore accurately captured the views of disabled people locally to ensure that their issues are understood and, importantly, that actions are targeted and effective. That is why it is so important that we will have a disability and work council, as it will have disabled people on it. It will also have a disabled person as its chair. The council will give disabled people a real insight into what is happening and real controls over governance.

The Member is absolutely right to raise that issue. Together, we recently met South Antrim Community Transport and saw at first hand the important work that it is doing in our constituency. Further work on accessible transport will be done, because, in a number of weeks, I will be bringing out the disability strategy, which will focus more widely on transport and accessibility issues. I am keen to break down barriers to disabled people getting into employment. Transport is rightly one such issue that we need to address. That will form part of the wider disability strategy, but I encourage the Member and anyone else who is interested to respond to the consultation on the disability and work strategy and make their views known so that we can see how those views can be incorporated, because what is the point in people having a job to go to if they cannot get to it? We therefore want to make sure that there is a focus on that as well.

2,732 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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