11 June 2009

Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Right to Control launch event

Hosted by the Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation (RADAR) on behalf of the Office for Disability Issues (ODI) London Marriot Hotel Regents Park

Thursday 11 June 2009

[Check against delivery]

Thank you very much. It is a great pleasure to be here today. I have been in post just less than a week, six days in fact, but I was very keen to join Jonathan today so that we both could come and make clear the importance of the Right to Control – and how important it is across government as well. Thank you too to Liz and to RADAR for all the work they've done to host this. And of course to Jane and to all of the others I know have been involved in the work to get the Right to Control right, to get this policy moving and to support the consultation, and the introduction of the legislation as well.

Jonathan, as you all know, has obviously had meetings and discussions with many of you over recent months about the work both on this area of policy, but also on the wider policies affecting disabled people, and I also see it as a hugely important programme of work.

For me, the principles that underpin the Right to Control are vital – principles around independence, around people having control of their own lives, being able to take choices, about greater equality for disabled people, about making sure that people have a say over the way in which services are provided.

The importance of these things struck home to me in a constituency case that I was dealing with over the last couple of months, which was about a disabled man who came to see me. He came with his family because he had been told by the medical professionals that he needed a new wheelchair, a different kind of wheelchair, because the one he had affected his health. The one they gave him he was deeply unhappy with, his family were deeply unhappy, it was too heavy for his elderly parents who were his main carers and it meant particularly he couldn't go dancing. He went to dancing sessions once a week, the most important thing in his life, his opportunity to get out and do things and he particularly loved music. It was a hugely important part of his life, and when he was no longer able to continue, that had a terrible effect on his health. He was feeling depressed and his health was suffering, and it took two months, even with the MP getting involved, to try to get some movement because the medical professionals’ approach was: "this is the kind of wheelchair he needs and this is what we're prescribing."

In fact after we had been involved and had had a whole series of discussions, they found a way in which they could modify his old wheelchair and adapt that and now he can go dancing again and it has transformed his life. The family came to see me again just two weeks ago and there was a transformation because he has got the services that actually work for him and work for his family and that is having a better, more positive impact on his health than anything else.

It was such a striking example of the way in which disabled people and their families will know far more about what the real barriers are that people face – whether it's being able to work, whether it's being able to do different things in the community or the way in which people live their lives.

That's why I think this principle of control is so important. But also the principle of us developing the policy together, of government working with disabled people to develop the policy in the first place and to get the detail right as well. You could call it co-production. I think that's the sort of odd word that people wonder what it means unless they're actually involved in, but it captures the principle that I think is so important.

So we are launching the consultation on the Right to Control and we want to get the practical details right. It is important that we do this in a way that really supports people across the country and doesn't end up creating new problems or creating problems for other people as well, so that we can actually make it work in practice.

What we want is your views on how we make this work, your views and thoughts on whether we've got it right, whether we've got it wrong, about what kind of funding streams should be involved in this, what are the mechanisms needed to make this work in practice at local level, what skills and training people need at local level and what kind of support people need in order to be able to make decisions as well.

I think this is a critical part of pursuing greater equality for disabled people. We now have disabled rights legislation making a commitment to equality for disabled people by 2025. The adviser group has given a voice to disabled people at the heart of government. We've pushed on with the Independent Living Strategy, which itself was developed working with disabled people as well.

We've earlier this week ratified the European convention on rights for disabled people, and I think we have come a long way in recent years, but of course we still have a long way to go.

I know from the example of the family I was talking to, we still face discrimination, we still face difficulties and we have got to keep striving and working to tackle the problems that remain- which is why I think this is such an important measure.

Interestingly, I think the principle of the Right to Control is tapping into something that is not just about disabled people. It's actually building on the way in which government should be giving more power to individuals in more areas and the way in which we should have more ability for people to take control of their own lives, while the state, the government and public services play that supportive role.

I also think it's particularly suitable and right that in fact it's here, in support of disabled people, that we are pioneering a principle that we should be applying much more widely. To actually make such a focus of it as part of support for disabled people is part of dealing with those wider inequalities, and wider discriminations as well.

It is a principle we should apply far more widely and I know it's something that Jane and others have championed more widely in other public services too.

So we will be launching the consultation. We then want to get the trailblazing local authorities going as well. What are the challenges, what works, what doesn't work in practice? That's where your expertise and advice will be critical.

We've tried to respond to different views that have already come forward, but I'm very clear about this, we know we're going to need to make further changes and amendments during the consultation as well.

There's going to be a toolkit produced to help organizations, groups and disabled people to gather views. So we're going to be sending that out shortly, but I just wanted to say in conclusion, to give you my commitment and Jonathan's commitment to working with you to get this right, to be able to take this forward to make sure that we can really make a difference, and frankly to transform people's lives across the country, because that in the end is what it's about.

It's about disabled people in every corner of the nation having better opportunities, better chances, better control of their lives, but not just that, better control of their lives so that they can do more with their lives and seize all opportunities that are available to them.

So thank you very much for coming today. Thank you very much for all the work you've done so far on this and I look forward to working with you on this and on other areas of policy in the future as well.

Thank you very much.