Rochdale MP Tony Lloyd writes to Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work to highlight plan to help more deaf young people into work

Rochdale MP Tony Lloyd (right) with campaigner Esther (left)

Rochdale MP Tony Lloyd has written to the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work to highlight a plan to help more deaf young people into work.

Mr Lloyd’s letter follows a meeting with representatives from the National Deaf Children’s Society and a young deaf campaigner, Esther, at the Labour Party’s Annual Conference in Brighton on Monday 23 September.

The group discussed some of key issues facing deaf children, including the specialist support they receive at school and the career opportunities on offer when they leave education.

According to the National Deaf Children’s Society, deaf children in Rochdale fall an entire grade behind their hearing classmates at GCSE on average.

There are 226 deaf children in the Rochdale borough.

Mr Lloyd said: “It was great meeting Esther, who is very determined to make the best of her own life and deserves appropriate support to do that.

“It's inspiring to see Esther trying to make other young people who are deaf, aware of the support deaf young people get to make important decisions about their futures and move into work. It's important that people are able to work together; it's good for the people of Rochdale, and for all people who face such barriers.

“I've written to Justin Tomlinson MP, the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, to highlight the National Deaf Children’s Society's 5-point plan for Access to Work that would help enable more deaf young people to make a successful transition from education to work, and to ask how these five points could be implemented.”

The National Deaf Children’s Society is the leading charity dedicated to creating a world without barriers for deaf children and their families by providing impartial, practical and emotional support to them and their families, and by challenging governments and society to meet their needs.