- Text Only |
- Site map |
- Print |
- Accessibility
c/o Council for Disabled Children
National Children's Bureau
8 Wakley Street
London EC1V 7QE
tel +44 (0)20 7843 6448
fax +44 (0)20 7843 6313
[email protected]
MPs congratulate Ministers but urge them to aim higher still
17 July 2007
The final Parliamentary Hearing on Services for Disabled Children saw three key government Ministers again showing their commitment to improving services for disabled children and their families.
MPs from all parties welcomed the outcome of the government review Aiming High for Disabled Children but also urged Ministers to go further still on issues such as key workers, advocacy for disabled children and a minimum entitlement to short breaks for families. Significantly, Health Minister Ivan Lewis MP took the opportunity again to 'put on the record' the commitment made at the launch of Aiming High...that the Department of Health will match the funding for short breaks from DCSF when its spending settlement is announced in October. The Minister said this commitment is subject to his Department’s overall CSR settlement.
Three of the eight Ministers who attended the first set of hearings in July 2006 attended this final wrap-up hearing. Crucially, they included Rt Hon Ed Balls MP, the new Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, who championed the government review in his previous role at HM Treasury. Equally important was the presence of both Lord Adonis from the Department for Children, Schools and Families and Ivan Lewis MP from the Department of Health. Lord Adonis and Ivan Lewis will jointly chair the Ministerial Implementation Group for the review, which Lord Adonis announced will meet for the first time next week.
Lord Adonis introduced the outcomes of the review, focusing on the three key areas of empowerment, responsive services and boosting provision. He reminded MPs and a packed audience of parents, young people and professionals that the review commits £340 million in new money to improving services, with the bulk of the money (£280 million) focused on short breaks.
Lord Adonis then took questions from MPs, led by Rt Hon Tom Clarke and Joan Humble, and including John Bercow for the Conservatives and Annette Brooke for the Liberal Democrats, on the details of implementation. As Chair, Tom Clarke highlighted the need to do more both on advocacy and on creating a minimum entitlement to short breaks for families.
Ivan Lewis argued for a greater priority for children's health generally in the NHS, and updated the meeting on progress on the community equipment and wheelchair services review and the national strategy on palliative care services.
Ed Balls described the new money - a third of a billion pounds - as 'a pretty good downpayment on a ten-year attempt to turn the situation around.' He acknowledged the work of the Parliamentary Hearings and also Gary Streeter MP, whose Disabled Children (Family Support) Bill helped push the issue of short breaks up the review agenda.
Ed Balls set out a 'cultural change' which saw disabled children now at the heart of policymaking within his department. He said that disabled children were part of his department’s wider agenda, seeking to shift services away from crisis management towards early intervention of preventative support.
Questions from MPs and the floor highlighted gaps where more work needs to be done to improve outcomes for children and families. Sharon Kelly, a parent from Salford who gave evidence at the first set of hearings, told MPs that the number of professionals involved with her daughter Alysha had risen to 23, with 16 health professionals included in the total. She asked for key worker support to be given to families whose children fall into the 5-14 age range not covered by Early Support or the new Transition Support Programme. Ivan Lewis stated that where needed key workers should be provided 'up the age range' and Ed Balls offered to put key working on the agenda for the first Ministerial Implementation Group.
Chris Osborne, CDC Chair and policy lead at the Children's Society, highlighted the need for advocacy for disabled children and young people to go alongside the support for parents. Ministers acknowledged the issue, and Ed Balls committed to involving disabled children and young people properly in the development of the DCSF Children's Plan.
Dan Norris MP raised the issue of child protection and highlighted the fact that disabled children were particularly vulnerable to abuse, which was recognised by Lord Adonis. Responding to interventions from Welsh MP Betty Williams, both Ed Balls and Lord Adonis urged the devolved administrations in the UK nations to commit the additional money they will receive through the Barnett formula to improving services for disabled children.
Christine Lenehan, Director of the Council for Disabled Children and Board Member of the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign, comments:
'The whole disabled children's movement owes a debt to Tom Clarke, Joan Humble and all the MPs on the Parliamentary Hearings panel, whose work has made disabled children a key political issue for the very first time. The government has listened and responded to their report, and in Ed Balls, Andrew Adonis and Ivan Lewis we have three Ministers who have shown a genuine and sustained commitment to our families. That commitment will be vital as the hard work on implementation moves forward before the new money starts to flow next year.'
More from EDCM:
EDCM Parliamentary Pages
News story: Parliamentary Hearings on Services for Disabled Children
