The role of Government
297. We welcome the commitment of Government to increased
choice and participation for adults with learning disabilities
in Valuing People and Valuing People Now (and by
the regional and devolved administrations in each of the equivalent
policy papers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). We are,
however, disappointed by the lack of strong leadership shown by
central Government in the implementation of these policies in
a way which ensures the fundamental rights of adults with learning
disabilities are respected. We welcome the very positive work
of the Office of the National Director and his colleagues in the
Valuing People Support Team; but we are anxious about the
clear evidence that this work, and the aims of Government policy,
are being undermined by a failure to pay serious attention to
both Valuing People and the wider rights of adults with
learning disabilities in other Government departments and in mainstream
public service delivery.
298. The National Co-Director for Learning Disabilities
described the process of engaging other Government departments
in the implementation of Valuing People, as a "process
of dialogue and negotiation" with other departments, to persuade
them that making provision for adults with learning disabilities
in their mainstream policies was a priority.[441]
On the one hand, the Minister for Care Services told us that the
creation of the Office of Disability Issues and the Life Chances
Ministerial Group meant that the disability agenda was "uniquely"
being "driven across Government".[442]
Yet, on the other, he told us that even within his own Department,
he had found it a "struggle" to get the mainstream NHS
to take the needs of adults with learning disabilities seriously.[443]
The Government should provide consistent leadership on the need
to respect the human rights of adults with learning disabilities.
Valuing People Now recognises the increased work by other
Departments in meeting the needs of adults with learning disabilities
(for example, work by the Home Office on criminal justice issues),
which we welcome, but we are concerned that there has been only
limited evidence of constructive joint-working by Government on
these issues so far.
299. We recognise that in most instances, principal
responsibility for meeting the needs of adults with learning disabilities
will be with service providers, either in local authorities, or
PCTs. With this in mind, we were particularly concerned by the
evidence that, for many, change has been slow and progress undermined
by limited resources at a local level, despite the Government's
lofty and admirable aims to promote independent living and the
rights of adults with learning disabilities. For example, when
we asked the National Co-Director for Learning Disabilities about
consistent implementation of Valuing People, he told us:
There is a great difference between authorities
… there are even great differences within authorities, because
if we remember that the Valuing People agenda is a cross-Government
agenda, what you can often find, even amongst the better authorities,
is some really innovative progress in one area, maybe about access
to mainstream healthcare, but maybe not doing much around access
to paid work.[444]
300. We asked the Minister for Care Services and
the Minister for Disabled People about the introduction of new
Public Service Agreement on Equalities and Social Exclusion, and
the balance between local and central responsibility for implementation
of policies on learning disabilities. We welcome the Minister's
recognition that "to achieve real change you need to empower
far more the professionals on the frontline" and his commitment
not to "stop challenging the system when I believe it is
fundamentally failing in its basic obligations to … people
with learning disabilities".[445]
301. We urge the Department of Health and the
Office for Disability Issues to consider opportunities for joint-working
to meet the aims of Valuing People and Valuing People
Now. As part of this process, we recommend the amendment
of Valuing People Now, to remind all public authorities,
including Government Departments, local authorities and NHS Trusts,
that the aim of the Government's policy is grounded both in the
need to respect the human rights of adults with learning disabilities,
and in the binding obligations of the Human Rights Act 1998 and
the Disability Discrimination Act (as amended). We consider that
this would send a strong message to mainstream services that implementation
of this policy is not optional.
The role of the Equality and
Human Rights Commission
302. In the course of this inquiry, we have considered
a number of positive steps taken by the former Disability Rights
Commission to highlight inequalities faced by adults with learning
disabilities, not least in the work of the DRC Formal Inquiry
Panel on health inequalities. We were impressed by the evidence
of Eve Rank, the Disability Rights Commissioner and Chair of the
DRC Learning Disability Action Group.
303. The Equality and Human Rights Commission, which
assumed the responsibilities of the DRC in October 2007, is newly
established and is in the process of setting longer term goals
and priorities. We intend to take oral evidence from the Commission
during 2008 on its early work and emerging priorities. However,
we consider that the Equality and Human Rights Commission has
a crucial role to play in the creation of a broad culture of human
rights. It has an important general duty to work "to
ensure mutual respect between groups based on … shared respect
for equality and human rights"[446]
and a specific duty to "promote awareness, understanding
and protection of human rights".[447]
In the course of this inquiry, we have learnt that the best way
to improve respect for the human rights of adults with learning
disabilities, is to involve them in the work done to help, support
and empower them. We encourage the Equality and Human Rights
Commission to ensure that it monitors the performance of the Government
and other public bodies in relation to the treatment of adults
with learning disabilities, and take steps, including through
active involvement with their statutory Disability Committee or
otherwise, to ensure that adults with learning disabilities play
a central role in its work and that their views and voices are
heard.
440 Q 154. Back
441
Q 133. Back
442
Q 157. Back
443
Q 158. Back
444
Q 123. Back
445
Q 171. Back
446
Equality Act 2006, Section 3. Back
447
Equality Act 2006, Section 9. Back
