Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether it is his policy that community services for people with learning disabilities should employ people with learning disabilities to provide those services.

David Mowat

The Government is committed to increasing the number of people with learning disabilities employed across the full range of National Health Service organisations. NHS Employers and NHS England have a range of tools and guidance to support organisations to increase their recruitment of people with learning disabilities, including providing real examples of jobs currently being done. People with learning disabilities bring their own expertise, personal experience and knowledge to roles. As such, roles that can specifically draw on this experience should be considered.

Further information on the NHS Learning Disability Employment Programme is available on NHS England’s website at:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/gov/equality-hub/ld-emp-prog/

“