Improving Services for Disabled Children and their Families

Written by Annette Brooke MP on Wed 17th Jan 2007

In 2006 HM Treasury and the Department for Education and Skills announced a cross-cutting review of services for disabled children and their families. Ministers asked two Labour MPs to set up a process to gather evidence and to put forward recommendations to be submitted to the comprehensive spending review later this year. Three special parliamentary hearings were arranged during July, 2006. I was very pleased to be invited by the Chairman, The Right Honourable Tom Clarke MP, to be a member of the MPs 'Hearing Panel'. Our Report was published in October 2006 and is available on the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign website www.edcm.org.uk.

Our Panel took evidence from a wide range of individuals and groups including: parents, young people with disabilities, Ministers, Councillors, and the Children's Commissioner for England. During one session the Children's Commissioner, Professor Al Aynsley Green, commented that 'the plight of children and families with disabilities is nothing short of a national 'scandal'.

The hearings covered: early years; family support and children's services; and transition stages to adulthood. Briefings informed us that there are 770,000 disabled children in the UK, over 90% of whom live at home and are supported by their families Only 1 in 13 families get support from their local social services, and 8 out of 10 families with disabled children are now at breaking point. There were some moving presentations from parents, including one where a mother explained how she was sent home from hospital with a baby with severe disabilities and a list of 21 people she could or should contact! Early support is obviously vital.

The saddest part for me was that I did not learn anything that I didn't know already. As a Councillor for 17 years, and as an MP since 2001 with a longstanding interest in disability issues, I had heard many times about the pressures that families face. For so long not enough support has been available and the provision of vital services has been very much a postcode lottery with variations across the country

The recommendations of the parliamentary hearings report are wide ranging and important, 7 or more Government Ministers from different Departments attended the sessions. For me perhaps the most important recommendation was for the provision of more respite: 'families with disabled children should have a statutory minimum entitlement to a short break service, set to reflect the level of their child's needs and that of the family'. This recommendation has been carried through into a private members bill - the Disabled Children (Family Support) Bill - that will be presented by Gary Streeter MP and which I am co-sponsoring. The second reading of this Bill is on Friday, February 23rd and so it is important that supporting MPs are here in large numbers that day.

After the hearings, I recalled each parent who gave evidence saying, why is everything such a battle? I hope Liberal Democrats can contribute to real policy changes for families with disabled children and reduce the number of 'battlefields.'