Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-02-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on the introduction of a learning disabilities commissioner with a statutory duty to promote and protect the rights of all people with learning disabilities and their families as recommended by the report of the Transforming Care and Commissioning Steering Group, Winterbourne View – Time for Change, published in November 2014.
Alistair Burt
The Department will consider the recommendations made in Time for Change – the Challenge Ahead, as part of development work on our Learning Disability Action Plan and in delivering the commitments we made in the Government’s response to ‘No voice unheard, no right ignored’ consultation published in November 2015. However, new statutory roles and legislation are not necessarily the answer to promoting and protecting the rights of people with learning disabilities and their families.
In the response to ‘No voice unheard, no right ignored’, we set out how we can make more rapid and meaningful progress by ensuring that the rights that exist under current laws and statutes are properly understood, implemented and exercised by those with learning disabilities and/or autism. This work is underway and we have made a clear commitment to consider legislation if the actions we propose do not create sufficient progress.
