25 October 2007 – Ministers meet disabled children and young people at listening event
Ministers from three departments met today with disabled children and young people to hear their views on the Government’s strategy to improve services for disabled children and their families.
Today’s event, which has been organised by the Government’s Office for Disability Issues in partnership with the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department of Health, follows a policy review which considered how services for children, young people and their families can be developed to improve outcomes. The resulting policy proposals, outlined in Aiming High for Disabled Children: Better Support for Families (May 2007), informed the Government’s spending plans for the three years to 2011.
The purpose of the event was to hear the views of delegates about the recommendations of Aiming High for Disabled Children, including their ideas on the development and delivery of these proposals, as well as on potential strategies for the future.
The event was attended by disabled children and disabled young people, as well as representatives of organisations with an interest in disabled children. Three Ministers attended today’s event – Minister for Disabled People Anne McGuire, Minister for Care Services Ivan Lewis and Minister for Schools Andrew Adonis – as did senior officials from departments with lead responsibility for implementing the recommendations outlined in the Aiming High for Disabled Children report.
Two young disabled members of Equality 2025, the Government’s advisory body on disability equality, opened the event by speaking about how the recommendations might improve the lives of disabled children, young people and their families.
Speaking after the event, Anne McGuire said:
“Delivery of the recommendations in Aiming High will take us a long way down the road towards our goal of equality for disabled people. Today’s event was a terrific opportunity to hear first-hand the views of disabled children and young people on how the report should be implemented.”
Care services Minister, Ivan Lewis said:
"Disabled young people and their families are best placed to tell us about the kind of changes which will make the most difference to their quality of life. Today represented an important opportunity for us to listen and learn."
Andrew Adonis said:
“The Government’s long-term goal is to transform the chances of disabled children and their families. This can’t be done overnight but events like the one today will inform the way that the important recommendations that came out of the Aiming High Review will be implemented.”
Notes to Editors
- The joint HM Treasury and the then Department for Education and Skills report, Aiming High for Disabled Children: Better Support for Families examined how to improve outcomes for disabled children through the development of effective and accessible services for disabled children and their families. It was part of the wider policy review relating to children and young people which was undertaken as part of the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review.
- The Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit report, ‘Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People’, published in January 2005, set out the Government’s strategy for disabled people. It included some sixty recommendations for improving disabled people’s lives, focusing on four key themes: early years, the transition from childhood into adulthood, employment and independent living. The Office for Disability Issues (ODI) was launched in December 2005 to drive this strategy forward and report publicly on the progress being made. More information about the work of the ODI can be found at www.officefordisability.gov.uk.
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Websites:
www.officefordisability.gov.uk
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