King's College London

Professor Hoque, Professor of Human Resource Management and the co-founder of the Disability Employment Charter gave oral evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee on the Autism Act 2009 earlier this year. The Committee was established to look at the effectiveness of the government’s autism strategy published as a result of the 2009 Autism Act and at the statutory guidance for the NHS and local authorities which supports the strategy. Its report makes recommendations on a range of important issues including in relation to health, the criminal justice system, education, and employment.

Professor Hoque’s evidence to the Select Committee drew on his extensive research on the barriers faced by disabled people in the workplace and on the effectiveness of different measures put in place to address them. His research underpins the recommendations of The Disability Employment Charter, several of which are reflected in the Select Committee’s report, including its recommendations that the government should:

• fund the expansion of evidence-based initiatives to support autistic and disabled people to find and stay in work, including through supported internships and supported employment
• develop, test and scale up financial incentives for employers to support more autistic and disabled people to find and stay in work, for example through taking into account the percentage of an organisation’s workforce that is disabled in the awarding of public contracts
• reform the Disability Confident scheme (currently under review by the Department for Work and Pensions) so that certification at Levels 2 and 3 is based on objective criteria, including the percentage of the workforce that is disabled.

The committee also recommends that the government should develop, test and scale up the use of tax incentives and/or national insurance relief to incentivise employers to support more autistic and disabled people to find and stay in work. This recommendation mirrors Professor Hoque’s work with 0utlyer, the entertainment industry production company founded by Coldplay’s Chris Martin, singer-songwriter Emmanuel Kelly, and film industry executive Joanne Reay, to campaign for reform to the UK film and TV industry tax credit to incentivise production companies to employ disabled people in greater numbers both on and off screen.